Missing years in contribution record

The Department for Work and Pensions referred the taxpayer to HMRC after she enquired about her pension statement. It was for less than she expected so she asked to pay for some qualifying years to increase it.

HMRC explained she had fallen below the lower earnings limit for the years 1989-90 1991-92 1993-94 and 1999-2000 to 2001-02 but it was too late for her to pay extra contributions. Further it had sent her deficiency notices for the three earlier years but not for the later three and although it had also issued her forms to obtain a pension forecast she had not followed these up. HMRC said the error was due to the taxpayer’s failure to exercise due care and diligence.

This suggested she was unaware of the deficiency.”

The taxpayer said she had two employments for the disputed years and they should be...