Associated Press
LONDON – A blunder by the British Ministry of Defense has deprived more than a thousand former soldiers or their widows of millions of pounds in pensions, some for up to 50 years, officials admitted Wednesday.
Soldiers who were injured and as a result pensioned out of the army in most of the major conflicts since World War II incorrectly had large tax sums deducted from their pensions.
A newspaper report said the total cost was about $70 million, with individual cases involving sums up to $143,000. The ministry called the report “speculation” but said they have no confirmed figures.
The ministry said it had picked up on the error only last year and had begun reimbursing army veterans or their widows. The minister said it “accepts full responsibility for the error.”
The mistake arose when civil servants administering army pensions failed to take account of the 1952 Income and Corporation Taxes Act, which made pensions tax-free if they were granted because a person was medically unfit due to military service.
The ministry said the files of 25,000 people receiving pensions had been examined and in 1,003 cases tax had been incorrectly deducted.
A report by The Daily Telegraph said the total cost to former soldiers was about $70 million.
The newspaper said the mistake was uncovered through a one-man campaign by a former Royal Artillery major, John Perry, who for four years rejected claims from civil servants that everything was in order.
It said most of the individual cases where tax had been wrongly deducted involved sums of between $43,000 and $143,000.
Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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