Claim back Income Tax on a flexibly accessed pension death benefit payment P55(DB)
Source: gov.uk (2025-04-30)

How to claim a refund in the current tax year on a death benefit lump sum payment.

You can claim back tax we owe you if:
- you’ve taken a flexibly accessed pension death benefit payment
- you’ve only taken part of your death benefit pension pot and will not be taking regular payments
- the pension body is unable to make a tax refund
Before you start

We’ll need to know about income you expect to receive in the tax year you got your flexibly accessed pension death benefit payment (6 April to 5 April).

Keep any paperwork relating to your claim until we’ve completed these checks.

If you’re not a UK resident for tax purposes (https://www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/residence), you do not need to fill in this form. You can check how to make a claim under a double taxation agreement (https://www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/taxed-twice).

If you fill in a Self Assessment tax return

If you fill in a tax return:
- do not include any estimated Self Assessment income in this claim, unless you want us to include this in calculating your repayment
- you’ll still need to pay any balancing payments owed and payments on account when due — you can ask us to use your repayment to lower your payments on account
- include any repayment you’ve received on your next Self Assessment tax return
- you must let us know when you no longer need to complete a Self Assessment tax return
If you’ve got PAYE (Pay As You Earn) and Self Assessment income, we will not include any Self Assessment income in calculating your repayment, unless you ask us to do so.

Information you’ll need to claim

You’ll need to tell us your:
- National Insurance number
- employer PAYE reference number
- nominee’s name and address — if you do not want the refund sent to your address
You’ll also need to tell us how much you expect to receive from:
- employment income
- self-employment income
- UK pension income
- taxable state benefits — such as Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Incapacity Benefit
- taxed interest on UK savings and investment income
- untaxed interest on UK savings
- dividends from UK companies
- any other income
- Gift Aid payments
You should use:
- estimated figures if you do not have final figures
- whole numbers rounded down to the nearest pound
We’ll make checks at the end of the tax year and contact you if the amount is different.

Ways to claim

To start your claim online.

Get all of your information together before you start. You will fill this form in online and you cannot save your progress.

Fill in form P55(DB) (https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/guidance/claim-back-income-tax-refund-on-flexibly-accessed-pension-death-benefit-payment-p55db).

Print and post it to HMRC, using the postal address shown on the form.

If you do not want to start your claim online

(https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d0230974b001c38a0287ac/P55DB_2025.pdf)

Form P55(DB) (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d0230974b001c38a0287ac/P55DB_2025.pdf)

PDF, 265 KB, 8 pages

Print the form.

Fill it in by hand.

Post it to HMRC (the address is at the end of the form).

What happens after you’ve claimed

Once we have received your completed claim, we’ll confirm if you are owed a refund or contact you if we need more information.

It may take 30 days to get a reply. You should not contact us during that period to check on progress.

You can check when you can expect a reply from HMRC (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-when-you-can-expect-a-reply-from-hmrc).

We will send a cheque to you or your nominee.