Do it online - Complete a Pension/Bereavement Benefit Coding Form P161

Use this online form to give HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) information about changes to your income. This form asks for a lot of information. If you have this information to begin with completing the form will be straightforward. Take a look at the section below 'Information you'll need before you use the online form' and collect this information together first.

Help completing the form is available on screen - wherever you see icons containing question marks, additional help and information will appear in a new window.

When you can use the online form

You can use this online form to tell HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) about changes to your income if any of the following applies:

you're nearing State Pension age
you're a woman approaching your 65th birthday
your spouse or civil partner has recently died

This online form can also be used by agents if they have 64-8 authority.

Authorising an accountant to deal with HM Revenue & Customs

When you can't use the online form

If you have more than two employments or three pensions you'll have to fill in a paper version of the form instead.

Go to the paper version Pension coding form

Go to the paper version Bereavement benefit coding form

When you should wait to fill in the form

You should delay using this form if either of the following applies for the current tax year (a tax year runs from 6 April in one year to 5 April in the next):

you're approaching State Pension age and you don’t yet know how much State Pension you'll get
you’re expecting to get another pension such as an occupational pension or personal pension within the next two months but you don’t yet know how much you’ll get

However if you've decided to defer (put off claiming) your State Pension for the current tax year you can fill the fill the form in now.

How the information is used

HMRC use the information you give to work out:

what tax-free allowances you're entitled to
how much tax (if any) you should be paying when you start to get your pension income
how much tax you should be paying if there are changes to your income because you've recently been bereaved

Why it's important to fill in your Pension Coding Form

Gathering together the information you need

It's very important that you gather together any information listed below before you start to use the form. This is important because:

you can't save the form and go back to it later
some computers may time out after a period of inactivity. Your information will be lost and you'll have to start again.

Information you'll need before you use the online form

Follow the link below if you want to print out a checklist of the information you'll need before you use the online form.

Download the P161 Coding form information checklist to print out (PDF 12K)

The information you'll need to fill in the online form - depending on your personal circumstances - is as follows:

National Insurance number or Unique Taxpayer Reference
spouse or civil partner's National Insurance number - if you're filling the form in because you've recently been bereaved
your email address
name and address of employer(s)
works or payroll number
name and address of pension provider(s)
pension number - non-State Pensions only
PAYE tax reference (if known) of any employers and pension providers
monthly amount of any employment, occupational pension, personal pension or retirement annuity
weekly amounts of any State Pension, benefits or allowances
start date of any new employment, pension, annuity or bereavement benefit

You'll also need estimated amounts for the following if appropriate:

bank or building society interest after tax
untaxed interest from National Savings or investments
dividend income from stocks and shares (including unit trusts)
yearly payments to a personal pension or retirement annuity
gift aid payments
any other income

If you don't have any of this information you will not be able to complete and submit the form.

Once you've gathered together the information you need, follow the link at the bottom of this page to access the online form.

Online Security

The link below allows you to send this form to HMRC from within their website. While this makes your outgoing email secure, the reply to you is not. This means any email response that HMRC sends won't request or contain confidential information - if necessary they'll contact you by phone or reply by letter.

Remember you can't save this form and go back to it later.

Go to the online Pension/bereavement coding form P161

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