According to calculations from LCP and AJ Bell, HMRC has had to repay an overall £835m to taxpayers who were overtaxed when they accessed their pension under pensions freedoms that was introduced in 2015. 

This figure comes after the publication of the latest government Pension Schemes Newsletter confirmed that HMRC had to repay £42.1m to 13,000 people who claimed an average of £3,248 in overpaid tax each in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2021.

The pension companies state that these figures only include cases where individuals filled in one of three different claim forms to actively claim back overpaid tax and that other overpayments will be picked up by the annual tax return process.