I'm getting quite a few people getting in touch concerned "The State Pension will start to be taxed" on the back of newspaper articles. I thought it worth making a few simple points to clear up possible confusions... 1. The State Pension is already taxable and always has been in my memory, in other words it counts towards your taxable income. Many State Pensioners who have other income too already pay income tax. 2. The stories are based on the fact the annual personal allowance - the amount you can earn before any tax is taken - is frozen at £12,570 (this is effectively a way of stealthily raising the tax people pay each year) 3. The State Pension annual rise is currently based on a 'triple lock' (ie it rises with the highest of avg earnings, inflation or 2.5%). 4. The stories are about the fact the triple lock means the current headline £11,973/yr State Pension may rise above the £12,570/yr personal allowance in a few years time. So some who's only income is the State Pension would then pay tax on the portion above the personal allowance. 5. The £11,973/yr quoted is somewhat misleading. It's the amount someone on the... FULL, NEW State Pension would get. Yet most pensioners (all who hit State Pension age before April 2016) are on the OLD pensione, which has a lower basic amount. And many don't get the full pension as they don't have enough National Insurance years. ------------ So overall the fact 'the State Pension alone may be taxable for some', is primarily a function of the fact that personal allowance is frozen, and the State Pension rises significantly each year. One way politicians could avoid it would be to increase the personal allowance (for everyone or just for state pensioners) yet it's worth being aware another way to do it would be to end the triple lock, so the State Pension doesn't rise as high! I'm not aiming making any political point here. Just trying to explain how it works as I've had quite a lot of questions.

The staggering thing about this Mastercard compensation case is the 'even if you never had one' - the net is spread very far and wide.