STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

I’VE read in Money Mail that the tax-free personal allowance is £11,500, but I’m getting only £10,600. Am I being shortchanged? Name and address supplied. It IS £11,500 until April 6, when it is increased to £11,850. but HMrC reduces allowances to collect tax due — so you may owe tax on some untaxed source. You should have been sent an explanation from the taxman.

ring HMrC on 0300 200 3300 and have your National Insurance number to hand so it can look up the details of your case. MY PARTNER died last year. He had a small annuity paying £417 a year. A few weeks after his death, we received a letter from his insurer, saying it had stopped the payout. I thought under recent laws, families could receive a lump sum. Is this correct? G. S., Romsey, Hants. No, tHAt’S not right. If you have turned a pension into an annuity, it will die when you do, unless you have specified that the money goes to a partner. I TRIED to call National Savings & Investments on the number included in Money Mail’s Spring Clean Your Finances supplement yesterday, but it won’t work. Can you help? R. L., Stevenage, Herts. uNFortuNAtELY, the number we printed is out-of-date. You can contact NS&I on 08085 007 007. We apologise for any inconvenience. ÷ WRITE to Tony Hazell at Ask Tony, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email asktony@dailymail.co.uk — please include your daytime phone number, postal address and a separate note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Tony Hazell. We regret we cannot reply to individual letters. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.