People with ‘enhanced protection’ on pensions valued up to £1.8m could benefit from switching to fixed protection before the tax year end deadline according to Skandia. If they continue with enhanced protection, their maximum tax-free cash allowance will fall to £375,000...
HMRC has changed its interpretation of the carry forward pension rule.
A new interpretation of the pension rules has opened up opportunities for pension investors to make significant contributions to their pension scheme.
HMRC has announced changes to its interpretation of the “...
People with large pensions must act before April 2012 to avoid tax charges.
Individuals with substantial pensions risk suffering avoidable tax charges if they do not take action before April 2012, warns JLT Wealth Management. Anyone who wants to can apply to retain the current £1.8m...
The annual allowance on tax privileged pensions was reduced to £50,000 on 6 April. Many long serving and higher earning pension scheme members will worry in case they overstep the mark. With this mind, SHILLING Communication, the communications specialists, has joined forces with actuarial...
The Treasury announced today [3 March] that tax will have to be paid at the point the charge arises for members of pension schemes who exceed the £50,000 Annual Allowance (AA).
However, members will be able to ask their pension scheme to meet their tax bill.
Schemes will have a...
Rhys Thomas, solicitor, looks at the tax breaks available for UK residents from overseas pension arrangements
Members of UK registered pension schemes enjoy tax relief on contributions and tax free investment returns. This has to be weighed against:
income tax plus the various pension taxes introduced from 6 April 2006 (A Day) – the lifetime allowance charge (LAC) on excess benefits, the annual...
The current system of retirement savings incentives is not working effectively is finding of new research from the Pensions Policy Institute and AEGON.
Unless there is a significant increase in private pension saving, people will be left with an inadequate retirement income, even after auto-...
The government has confirmed that the lifetime allowance (LTA) will be reduced to £1.5m from 6 April 2012.
However, people with savings above £1.5m, or those with funds under £1.5m who believe the value of their pension pot will breach this level due to future investment growth...
During the last 18 months pensions tax relief for the higher paid has come under some sharp political scrutiny, particularly given that HM Treasury clearly needs more money to try to cover the massive public sector defi cit. In his fi rst Budget a few months ago, George Osborne stepped in to...
Maybe it is time to abolish tax relief on pensions, suggests Anthony Hilton, Evening Standard
At a pensions conference recently the audience of trustees, consultants, managers and assorted hangers-on was asked, by means of these now ubiquitous key pad voting devices, whether it thought pensions saving should continue to attract tax relief. A year ago the question would not have been asked...
Zurich Tax Handbook 2009-10 by Anthony Foreman and Gerald Mowles (815 pages), ISBN 978 0 273 72818 4, £37.99 from www.pearsoned.co.uk
This long established work should feature in every financial adviser’s library and represents extremely good value. It explains key aspects of taxation in a simple and accessible manner providing worked examples, checklists, definitions and tax hints. This latest edition incorporates all...
The government is extending the pension tax changes announced in April’s Budget. The anti-forestalling regime, which limits the level of higher rate tax relief people can receive on pension contributions in advance of April 2011, has been extended from 9 December to impact those with...
TAX RELIEF
Following the emergency Budget, the government has issued a consultation paper on changes to tax relief, leaving industry little time to gear up to the changes. The key points of the document are:
annual allowance to be reduced to between £30,000 and £45,000 – probably...
Large tax bills loom for high earners unless employers move quickly warns Paul Waters, Hymans Robertson
In April 2009 the government at the time announced one of the most fundamental changes to the taxation of pensions since Gordon Brown’s infamous “pensions’ stealth tax” in 1997. The long standing principle of avoiding double taxation of pensions was broken, with high...
Large tax bills loom for high earners unless employers move quickly warns Paul Waters, Hymans Robertson
In April 2009 the government at the time announced one of the most fundamental changes to the taxation of pensions since Gordon Brown’s infamous “pensions’ stealth tax” in 1997. The long standing principle of avoiding double taxation of pensions was broken, with high...
How not to tax pensions – what can we learn from the high income excess relief charge (HIERC) saga by Mark Bondi, Heath Lambert
The news that the proposed high income excess relief charge, (HIERC) is unlikely to go ahead next April will be welcomed by the majority of people in the pensions industry. However, that welcome will be tempered by the recognition that government is still set on taking a further £3.5bn in...
