Under HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) rules, pensions are classed as earned income and have to be taxed under Pay As You Earn. 

For lump sum withdrawals, usually 25% of the amount you take is tax free and the remainder is taxed under the emergency tax code, unless we have your tax code on file. If you take a regular income from your flexi-access drawdown account, we usually need to use the emergency tax code for the first payment, but we then ask HMRC to provide your tax code for future payments. 

Depending on your overall taxable earnings from other pension pots or income from other sources, within the same tax year, you may have to pay some additional tax, or you could be entitled to a rebate. 

We’ll confirm the details of this payment so you can check your tax position with HMRC. 

If you have any questions about the tax you have paid or your tax code, you can contact HRMC on 0300 2003 300 or visit the HMRC self assessment web page for help. 

If you think you have paid too much tax on your overall earnings from all sources of income this year, then you could claim online using the transaction totals shown in your online account. Find out how to claim a refund on the HMRC’s website.

Please note, HMRC might ask you to register for an online account with them to help answer your tax questions.