Dr Susan Treagus spotted an error that could have cost her dearly, plus a letter on how to satisfy car insurance algorithms
While any increase in insurance premiums after being widowed is unwelcome (‘Bereavement penalty’: people who lost partners hit by insurance premium rises, 15 November), it is small compared with my experience with HMRC. When my husband died in March this year, I notified HMRC and other bodies via Tell Us Once.
I received two letters in April, three days apart, from HMRC, notifying me of my personal tax code for 2025-26. I glanced at the first one, similar to recent years, but didn’t realise the later letter – triggered by my husband’s death – was substantially different: not until I examined my bank statements in May and June, and saw that my small occupational pension had almost halved. It seems that an extra £62,000 had been added to my pension income, pushing this well into the higher tax threshold.
