Money helpdesk: I Will be 65 on 2 April. The tax year ends on the 5 April. Will the higher tax allowance of £9,640 apply to my current year's income and should I expect a tax rebate for the whole of the current year?

JH by e-mail

Valerie J Smart, head of tax at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Edinburgh, writes:

The good news is that in order to qualify for the higher allowance it is only necessary to be over 65 at some time in the tax year, so even though a birthday on 2 April falls right at the end of the tax year, the full allowance is available and will apply to the current year's income.

There are several ways this allowance can be claimed. Where details of your date of birth are on record at your tax office an application (P161 Pension Coding form) may be sent to you prior to your birthday, but if not it can be downloaded online from HM Revenue & Customs website or obtained from a tax office.

Normally the information about income, benefits and pension on this form are used to adjust a Notice of Coding so that the higher allowance is given to reduce any tax deducted at source from pension or other earnings. In your case there will not be time to correct tax deductions through the pay-as-you-earn system so a claim for a tax repayment should be made by submitting a tax return or repayment claim. If you write to your tax office, the necessary forms will be sent to you at the end of the tax year.

Remember that the full allowance of 9,490 is reduced if your income exceeds 22,900 by 1 of every 2 of income in excess. It can be reduced down to the basic personal allowance of 6,475 but no lower.

The income in question is your taxable income but the figure is adjusted downwards for gift aid donations or pension contributions made during the year. If you have control over the timing of receipt of any of your taxable income it is worth checking your income level and try to minimise any reduction in the allowance. Subject to this income restriction, a rebate will be given of any tax overpaid for the whole tax year.