Thousands of pension savers have been urged to test whether they are owed a tax refund from HMRC after new figures revealed the average reimbursement is now virtually £4,000. The newest HMRC statistics show more than 12,500 people reclaimed tax after flexibly accessing their pension between April and June this yr.
During the three-month period, HMRC repaid more than £50.3million to people who had paid too much tax on pension withdrawals. Experts say many retirees are still being caught out because emergency tax codes are typically utilized when someone takes their first versatile pension cost, which means they can finish up paying far more tax than they really owe.
Adam Cole, retirement specialist at Quilter, said: “HMRC’s latest figures show that between April and June 2026 more than 12,500 people had to reclaim tax after accessing their pension flexibly, with more than £50.3m repaid in the second quarter of the year.
“While the number of reclaim forms is down marginally compared with the same period last year, the total amount repaid has jumped by nearly £2m.
“The average repayment stands at almost £4,000, not an insignificant amount of money, and is money that could be put to work sooner and to better use.
“Instead, retirees are being left out of pocket while they wait for HMRC to return their own money, a process that could and should be quicker or avoided altogether.”
Mr Cole continued: “All of this is happening at a time when pressures are rising on retirees, despite the triple lock. The new government has backed away for now from the idea that the personal allowance should be unfrozen and uplifted, a move that would help pensioners and reduce their administrative burden given how close the state pension is to that allowance.
“As emergency tax codes are applied to the first payment of a flexibly accessed pension this continues to mean a mismatch between the tax deducted and what is actually owed”.
HMRC’s newest figures show it processed 10,200 P55 types between April 1 and June 30. It also dealt with 2,001 P53Z types and 411 P50Z types during the same period.
In complete, HMRC repaid £50,353,656.76 over the three months.
Elsewhere, HMRC reminded pension scheme directors that the Pension Schemes Online service will close from April 2027.
Those with open pension schemes have been urged to migrate them to the Managing Pension Schemes service by December 31, 2026, to keep away from disruption.
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