Guidance

Claim a tax refund when you've taken a small pension lump sum (P53)

How to claim back tax that HMRC owes you on a small pension lump sum that you've received in the current tax year (P53).

From:
HM Revenue & Customs
Published
23 August 2023
Last updated
6 October 2023 — See all updates

You can claim back any tax we owe you on a pension lump sum using P53 if you have taken:

  • all of your pension as cash — trivial commutation of a pension fund
  • a small pension as a lump sum

You’ll need to use form P53Z instead if:

  • you’re reclaiming tax because you’ve flexibly accessed your pension pot and you’ve emptied your pension pot
  • received a serious ill health lump sums — to reclaim, in year, any overpaid tax on these lump sums

Before you start

You’ll need to:

  1. Tell us about any other income you expect to get during the tax year

  2. Check you have part 2 and 3 of all forms P45 from your pension payments — we’ll not be able to deal with the claim without the P45

You can tell us the estimated figures if you do not have final figures. You’ll need to use whole numbers, rounded down to the nearest pound. We’ll make checks at the end of the tax year and contact you if the amount is different.

You should keep this paperwork until these checks are done.

Claim online

To use the online service, you need a Government Gateway user ID and password. If you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you use the service:

Start now

Complete this form online if you cannot sign in

You can use our interactive guidance. You’ll need to:

  1. Start your claim online.

  2. Print the form.

  3. Sign the declaration.

  4. Post to HMRC.

Pay As You Earn
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1AS

If you do not wish to start your claim online

Form P53

PDF, 311 KB, 9 pages

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  1. Print the form.

  2. Fill it in by hand.

  3. Post it to HMRC (the address is at the end of the form).

What happens next

We’ll work out any repayment due to you and send you a payable order. We can send this direct to you at your home address or to your nominee’s address. The payable order can only be paid into an account held in your name or your nominee’s.

Repayments cannot be made by Bacs (Bankers Automated Clearing Service).

Find out when you can expect to receive a reply from HMRC to a query or request you’ve made.

Information you’ll need to claim

You’ll need your:

  • National Insurance Number
  • employer PAYE reference number — if you have it
  • parts 2 and 3 of your p45 — if not tell us why (for example, you may be retired, or a UK Crown servant employed abroad)
  • self-employment profits made in this tax year — if there are any

Your P45 shows how much tax you’ve paid on your salary so far in the tax year (6 April to 5 April).

You’ll also need to confirm if you’ve had any:

  • pensions from a former employer
  • public service pensions
  • forces pensions
  • personal pension annuities
  • small pensions paid as lump sums (trivial commutation)
  • State Pension
  • taxable benefits from 6 April in the current tax year

You should also check if you’ve had any income from:

  • property
  • trusts
  • commissions
  • tips
  • foreign income
  • profits paid out on UK life insurance policies
  • any other source you have not entered on the form
Published 23 August 2023
Last updated 6 October 2023 + show all updates

  1. Due to planned downtime, our interactive guidance will be unavailable from 2pm on Friday 6 October 2023 to 10am on Tuesday 10 October 2023.

  2. Added translation

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