Pensions and retirement planning

On the 6 April 2015, The Taxation of Pensions Act 2014 and the Finance Act 2015 brought in radical changes to t...

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The Pensions Tax Manual covers the taxation of pensions and is available via the HMRC website.

What is the name of the HMRC guide to the taxation of pension schemes?

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Contributions to a registered pension scheme are unlimited though there is a limit on how much of the contribution will receive tax relief.

Member contributions

The maximum personal contribution that can reecive tax relief for a member who is a relevant UK individual is 100% of relevant UK earnings or £3,600 gross (£2,880 net); whichever is higher. However, if total contributions for a single member exceed the annual allowance, a tax charge could apply. This will be looked at in more detail later.

It is important to note here that the contribution will get tax relief on the higher of £3,600 or relevant UK earnings - even if that amount is over the annual allowance (or the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA), which we will cover shortly).  The tax relief is given when the contribution is made and the annual allowance (or MPAA) is only considered when the member completes their self-assessment form; at this point it will be clear whether the individual can keep all their tax relief or whether some of it should be ‘given back’ to HMRC in the form of an annual allowance charge.  

Tax relief is given in two ways:

Employer sponsored occupational schemes (usually trust-based final salary and money purchase schemes) generally use the ‘net pay’ method.  This means that employee contributions are taken from the employee’s gross pay before income tax is deducted via PAYE.  The contribution reduces the amount of earnings that are taxable so the employee normally receives full tax relief via PAYE whether the member is a basic rate or higher/additional rate taxpayer.

Group personal pensions generally use the ‘...

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The decision to reduce salary cannot normally be revoked, though it may be possible to change the terms of an arrangement where a ‘lifestyle change’ affects an employee’s financial circumstances. This includes marriage, divorce or an employee’s spouse becoming redundant or pregnant.  

Recycling the pension commencement lump sum (PCLS)

Legislation was brought into effect to prevent a PCLS being reinvested back into a registered pension scheme and automatically generating further tax relief on the contribution as a result.

These rules impose tax charges where much larger pension payments are made for an individual as a direct and pre-planned result of drawing a PCLS from a registered pension scheme after 5 April 2006. The rules apply when:

The PCLS (together with any other PCLS taken in the previous twelve-month period) is more than £7,500

 AND

The pension payments made are significantly (generally 30%) larger than might have been expected

 AND

The cumulative total of extra pension payment in the tax year is more than 30% of the PCLS

However, these rules only apply to pre-planned recycling exercises. HMRC guidance makes it clear that unplanned recycling will not be caught by the rules.

Any lump sum that is caught by the recycling rules will be treated as an unauthorised payment. This will mean a tax charge of up to 55% of the lump sum (made up of the unauthorised payments charge of 40% plus a 15% unauthorised payments surcharge if that applies) for the individual and up to 40% for the pension scheme (though the scheme can escape tax charges where it was not aware of the recycling plan).

If a pension scheme member does not meet any of the relevant UK individual criteria then what is their position regarding contributions to the scheme?

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The annual allowance is a limit on the value of ‘pension input amount’ that qualifies for tax relief during each ‘pension input period’.

If the amount of pension input is more than the available annual allowance, an annual allowance charge is paid, charged at the individual’s marginal rate(s) of income tax.

The annual allowance for 2023/24 is £60,000. Prior to the 2023/24 tax year, it had been £40,000 for several years. The increase was announced during the spring budget 2023.

However this is tapered (reduced by £1 for every £2) for those people with ‘threshold income’ over £200,000 and ‘adjusted income’ over £260,000. 

Threshold income is gross taxable income (investment as well as earned):

Less the grossed-up amount of any pension contribution (made by anyone other than their employer), subject to relief at source or net pay

Plus any employment income given up via salary sacrifice via an arrangement set-up on or after 9 July 2015

Less any lump sum death benefits taxed as income

If this is greater than £200,000 then adjusted income must be calculated. (If someone has threshold income of £200,000 or less will not be subject to the taper and there is no need to calculate adjusted income).

Adjusted income is gross taxable income:

Plus any employer contributions

Less any lump sum death benefits taxed as income

If this is greater than £260,000 the annual allowance is tapered, if less or equal to £260,000 no tapering is needed.

As a result of the new pension flexibilities, the money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) was introduced. The MPAA rules work with the annual allowance rules to make sure that the new flexibilities cannot be abused. The MPAA has been £10,000 since April 2023. Previously, it was £10,00...

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This leaves £40,000 to be carried forward from the previous 3 years, starting with the earliest year.

£15,000 is carried forward from 2020/21.

£10,000 is carried forward from 2021/22.

He then carries forward £15,000 from 2022/23 which means there is £5,000 to be used in 2024/2025 or 2025/2026.

The annual allowance charge

The annual allowance charge is a tax charge that applies when an individual’s pension input amount for a tax year exceeds that year’s annual allowance/MPAA. The tax charge is usually levied on the member at their marginal rate of tax. This means that the excess over the annual allowance would be charged at more than one income tax rate if it falls into more than one income tax band. The excess over the annual allowance/MPAA is added to the person’s taxable income (the amount after the personal allowance has been deducted).  The annual allowance charge is collected from the individual via their self-assessment tax return.

Individuals with an annual allowance charge of over £2,000 and whose pension savings exceeded the annual allowance (not just the MPAA) can elect for the scheme administrator to pay all or part of the annual allowance charge on their behalf.  This is known as ‘scheme pays’ and will result in the member's pension benefits being reduced. In defined contribution schemes, the charge will be deducted from the fund and in defined benefit schemes, an adjustment will be made to the accrued benefits.

All contributions paid to UK registered pension scheme count towards the annual allowance, whether they receive tax relief or not. Only contributions paid to non-registered pension schemes (e.g. employer-financed retirement benefits schemes), do not count.

It is possible to carry forward any unused annual allowance to the current tax year from how many of the previous tax years?

Answer : Purchase course for answer

The LTA is set by the Treasury and, since it was introduced in 2006, has been set as follows:

2006/07 - £1.5 million

2007/08 - £1.6 million

2008/09 - £1.65 million

2009/10 - £1.75 million

2010/11 - £1.8 million

2011/12 - £1.8 million

2012/13 - £1.5 million

2013/14 - £1.5 million

2014/15 - £1.25 million

2015/16 - £1.25 million

2016/17 - £1.0 million

2017/18 - £1.0 million

2018/19 - £1.03 million

2019/20 - £1.055m

2020/21 - £1,0731m

2021/22 - £1,0731m

2022/23 - £1,0731m

Since 6 April 2018 the LTA has been indexed annually in line with CPI so in 2019/20 it was £1.055m and in 2020/21 it was £1,073,100. It remains at this level to date, having been frozen until 2028 following the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, during the spring budget 2023, the government announced its intention to formally abolish the lifetime allowance with effect from the start of the 2024/25 tax year.

During the 2023/24 tax year, pension schemes are still required to undertaken lifetime allowance tests when benefit are crystallised. However, the rate of the lifetime allowance excess tax charge is zero. In future years, the amount of the tax-free pension commencement lump sum (PCLS) which can be taken by a scheme member will be limited to 25% of the current lifetime allowance. Where the member has lifetime allowance protection, this will be limited to 25% of their protected figure.

Fixed protection

When reducing the LTA to £1.5 million in 2012, the Government recognised that there should be a ‘protection regime’ for those who had already made pension saving decisions based on an LTA £1.8 million. This protection was designed to cover those with savings above £1.5 million or who believed the value of their pension pot would  rise to above that level through investment growth without any further contributions or pension savings and who did not already have primary or enhanced protection.

They were able to apply for ‘fixed protection’, i.e. a personalised LTA of £1.8 million, providing there was no benefit accrual in any registered pension scheme after 5 April 2012. Any excess value above £1.8 million would be subject to a LTA tax charge. This did mean, though, they could take a tax-free PCLS of up to 25% of £1.8 million.

Under defined contribution schemes, benefit accrual occurred if any further relevant contributions were made after 5 April 2012. The only contributions allowed were contributions to provide life cover, which was in place before 6 April 2006.

Under defined benefit schemes it meant that the benefit value (i.e. 20 times the accrued pension plus any separate PCLS) could not increase by more than the relevant percentage in any tax year after 5 April 2012. The relevant percentage was any annual rate of benefit increase specified in the scheme rules on 9 December 2010 or, if no increases are specified, the increase in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for the year to the September before the start of the tax year.

Benefit accrual under fixed protection was tested every year, unlike under enhanced protection where it was tested only on transfer or on crystallising benefits.

Sch...

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Flexi-access drawdown

Previously a flexible drawdown plan where the nomination was accepted in a drawdown year starting on or after 27 March 2014

25 × 80% the maximum permitted income that could be paid if the contract was a capped drawdown at the date of the BCE

Flexi-access drawdown

Capped drawdown – converted to flexi-access drawdown on or after 6 April 2015

25 × 80% of the maximum permitted income from a capped drawdown pension that could have been paid when the member’s drawdown pension fund became a flexi-access drawdown fund

Testing against the lifetime allowance

Whenever a BCE takes place after A-Day the value of the new benefits being crystallised is tested against the member’s available LTA and uses up a percentage of that allowance. The remaining percentage is then carried forward for use at the member’s next BCE.

Example

In the tax year 2009/10 when the LTA was £1.75m, Jimmy took a pension commencement lump sum of £218,750 from his personal pension and used the remaining fund of £656,250 to purchase an annuity. The crystallised value of Jimmy’s benefits was £875,000. This used up 50% of Jimmy’s LTA (i.e. £875,000/£1,750,000).

In the tax year 2023/24, when the LTA is £1,073,100, Jimmy started to receive a scheme pension of £12,500 a year from a former employer’s defined benefit scheme. The crystallised value of this pension is £250,000 (i.e. 20 x £12,500). This used up a further 23.29% of Jimmy’s LTA (i.e. £250,000/ £1,073,100). This leaves Jimmy with 26.71% of his LTA available for his next BCE (i.e. 100% - 50% - 23.29%).

Lifetime allowance charge

The LTA charge was a tax charge that applied at any BCE where the crystallised value of the new benefits exceeded the member’s available LTA. The tax charge applied to the excess over the available allowance, known as the chargeable amount. The charge was designed to recoup the tax breaks the member had received on the excess funds over the years they had been sheltered inside the pension tax regime.

Prior to 6 April 2023, the amount of tax charged depended on the form in which the excess benefits were paid:

If the excess was paid as a lump sum, it was taxed at 55%

If the excess was used to provide pension income, it was taxed at 25%. Remember, the pension provided by the remaining 75% was also subject to income tax at the member’s marginal rate of income tax

Example

Rashid crystallises excess benefits valued at £200,000. If he takes this chargeable amount as a lump sum, it will suffer tax of £110,000 (i.e. 55% x £200,000), leaving a lump sum payment of £90,000. If he decides to use the chargeable amount to provide pension income, it will suffer tax of £50,000 (i.e. 25% x £200,000). The pension income provided by the remaining £150,000 will also suffer income tax at his marginal rate of income tax.

Since 6 April 2023, the rate of the charge has been 0%. Technically, it still exists, however, in effect, no tax is paid. Instead, lifetime allowance excess benefits will simply be subject to income tax under PAYE on the recipient. From 6 April 2024, the lifetime allowance excess charge will formally cease to exist.

What tax rates were used to calculate the LTA charge?

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There are two exceptions to the NMPA:

Where deferred or current members of occupational or statutory schemes already had a contractual right to retire at age 50. This right must have existed on 10 December 2003 and must have been genuinely contractual,...

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The new normal minimum pension age will not apply to public service schemes – the police, armed forces, firefighters, etc – they will not have an NMPA that is linked to State pension age.

By how much will the LTA be reduced where a scheme member takes benefits early on the grounds of ill-health?

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Since 6 April 2015 these are the ways of providing a pension income:

Lifetime annuities – these are pensions secured by annuity purchase from an insurance company – they can either be conventional or flexible

Scheme pensions – these are paid directly from a registered pension scheme and this is the only option available from a defined benefit scheme

Drawdown pensions – these can be either capped (if already in existence before 6 April 2015) or flexi-access drawdown

Unc...

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The first 25% of a payment made in respect of uncrystallised funds is tax free, with the remaining 75% taxed as the member’s pension income under PAYE.

To help simplify retirement rules, the Government reduced the age at which an individual could take a small pot from 60 to 55, with effect from 6 April 2015. It is also possible to take a small pot payment from an earlier age where the member either has a protected pension age or is suffering ill health and takes early retirement.

Explain the conditions that must be met for a member to receive a trivial commutation lump sum.

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Dependant 's pensions

Under HMRC rules for registered pension schemes a dependant is defined as:

A person who was married/in a civil partnership with the member at the time of the member’s death

A person who was married/in a civil partnership with the member when the member first started to receive a pension but who was divorced from the member before the date of the member’s death

A child of the member who is aged under 23 at the date of the member’s death

A child of the member who is aged 23 or over but who in the scheme administrator’s opinion was dependent on the member because of their physical or mental impairment at the date of the member’s death

A person who, at the date of the member’s death, was in the opinion of the scheme administrator:

- Financially dependent on the member; or <...

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Since 6 April 2015, scheme pensions still have to be paid to a dependant, but death benefits from defined contribution schemes (excluding scheme pensions) can now be paid to an individual nominated by the member (or by the scheme administrator where the member has not done so), who is not a dependant, and who is known as a nominee. It is also now possible for a nominee or dependant (or by the scheme administrator where they have not done so) to nominate a successor to pass a flexi-access drawdown fund to on the death of the nominee or dependant.

Since 6 April 2015, a nominee’s continuing pension can be any of the following:

A lifetime annuity – either conventional or flexible

A scheme pension (provided the option of a lifetime annuity has already been declined)

A flexi-access drawdown pension

What are the three main types of death benefit?

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Guarantee periods: Scheme pension payments may be guaranteed for a period of up to ten years, regardless of the member’s age. For a lifetime annuity, the time limit on a guarantee period was removed from 6 April 2015 and will be at the annuity provider’s discretion. Prior to 6 April 2015, such payments from both scheme pensions and lifetime annuities were taxable for the recipient(s) and could not be commuted. Since 6 April 2015, any income received by a beneficiary under a lifetime annuity guarantee period will now be tax-free if the member died prior to age 75. Income received by a beneficiary from a scheme pension under a guarantee period, and income received by a beneficiary from a lifetime annuity under a guarantee period where the member died on or after age 75, re...

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Such a lump sum is paid without any tax charge. There is also no tax charge on the charity receiving the payment if it is used for charitable purposes.

Members are encouraged to complete an expression of wish form to advise the trustees who they wish benefits to be payable to on death but this is not binding on the trustees, who have full discretion as to who to pay the lump sum to. In most cases, however, the trustees will follow the member’s wishes. If the member does not complete an expression of wish form the trustees must investigate their domestic situation following death to search for dependent persons as defined by the scheme’s rules

What are the death benefits available when a scheme member dies whilst in flexi-access drawdown?

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Although one aim of pensions simplification was to replace the eight previous pensions regimes with a single simplified regime, some elements of the old regimes were carried forward into the new regime under the transitional protection rules.

These rules recognised that it was only fair that people’s reasonable expectations for pension rights built up under the old rules should be honoured. There were two kinds of transitional protection – enhanced protection and primary protection – aimed at protecting, at least to some extent, rights built up before A-Day.

Enhanced protection

Enhanced protection was available to everyone with pre A-Day benefits irrespective of the value of their pension rights. An election for enhanced protection f...

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Scheme members who had enhanced protection and were automatically enrolled into a pension scheme from October 2012 onwards (as a result of Workplace Pension Reform) had to opt out within one month of their auto-enrolment date or they would lose their enhanced protection. However, where the employer had reasonable grounds to believe the worker had enhanced protection, the requirement to auto-enrol the employee did not apply

As with Fixed Protection, members holding Enhanced Protection can, from 6 April 2023, recommence benefit accrual without experiencing the loss of that protection. From 6 April 2023, Enhanced Protection cannot generally be revoked.

How could enhanced protection previously be revoked?

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Only individuals with pension rights valued at more than £1.5m on 5 April 2006 could apply for primary protection. An election for primary protection gave an individual a personal LTA that was larger than the standard LTA and allowed contributions to continue or benefits to continue to build-up after A-Day. This gave increased protection against the LTA charge but the charge still arose if the crystallised value of benefits when they were taken exceeded the personal LTA. For example, money purchase funds that grew at a higher percentage rate between A-Day and taking benefits than the percentage increase in the LTA (taking into account the underpinned lifetime allowance) would be subject to a LTA charge at crystallisation. An LTA charge could also occur for members of defined benefit schemes ...

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This arises where a pension debit on divorce is awarded against an individual who has primary protection and the amount of the debit is deducted from the value of their benefits at 5 April 2006. If the value then goes below £1.5m (the standard LTA in 2006/07), primary protection is lost. If it does not fall below £1.5m, the factor is recalculated with effect from that date though it does not affect BCEs that may have already taken place between 5 April 2006 and the date of the debit.

Where an individual applied for both enhanced and primary protection, which of them took priority?

Answer : Purchase course for answer

There are, however, three types of PCLS rights that can be given transitional protection:

Where a member elected for primary protection, any PCLS entitlement of more than £375,000 also had to be registered for primary protection. The member's PCLS entitlement is calculated as at 6 April 2006 and this amount will be increased each year in line with increases in the LTA.

Primary protection example

Dennis has a registered PCLS of £500,000 under primary protection. He decides to crystallise his benefits in 2023/24 when the LTA is £1,073,100. The maximum PCLS Dennis can take is £600,000, i.e. £500,000 x (£1.8m/£1.5m). Even though the LTA has reduc...

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To retain entitlement to the higher PCLS, all benefits from the scheme must be taken at the same time, so phased retirement would cause the protection to be lost.

The protection will also be lost if the benefits are transferred to another pension scheme unless the transfer is a block transfer. This can be when either:

Two or more members transfer from the scheme with the protected PCLS to another pension scheme at the same time. The member must not have been a member of the receiving scheme for more than a year at the date of transfer, or

There is a transfer to an individual pension contract (e.g. a Section 32 buyout contract) or assignment of a member's policy on the wind-up of the scheme

Which type of pre A-Day pensions could have built up a pension commencement lump sum entitlement of greater than 25% of the value of pension benefits and therefore benefit from scheme specific protection?

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The unauthorised payments charge

This is an income tax charge applied at a rate of 40% of the unauthorised payment made (or de...

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De-registration charge

This charge is mainly aimed at 'trust busting' but is most likely to become payable when a scheme invests in ‘taxable property’. The charge is levied on the scheme at the rate of 40% of the total value of the funds held by a scheme immediately before its registration is withdrawn by HMRC.

On whom is an unauthorised payments charge levied?

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No capital gains tax on any gains within the scheme; <...

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What is the tax position with regards to interest received within a registered pension scheme?

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A QROPS can be arranged by any UK taxpayer who intends to move (or has already moved) outside the UK or by international workers who are members of a UK pension scheme and are returning home or moving to another country. To accept a transfer, the QROPS must meet HMRC requirements.

The QROPS can be based in any country, not necessarily the one where the individual intends to move to (or is living), which means that the plan can be set up in a low tax regime such as the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man and paid to another country in any currency.

To gain HMRC approval, a QROPS must be regulated as a pension scheme in the country where it is established and must be recognised as a pension in its host country for tax purposes. However, HMRC has no control over the level of regulation or the rules that apply to the scheme in the host country. Within 10 years of the transfer, HMRC will be entitled to receive information about any benefits or withdrawals that are taken from funds that originated in the UK.

If the individual returns to live in the UK within a five-year period ther...

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Align the tax treatment in relation to pension flexibility for registered pension schemes with those for overseas schemes

The scheme administrator of a QROPS must notify HMRC that the scheme meets the conditions to be a recognised overseas pension scheme every five years.

Overseas transfer charge

A 25% overseas transfer charge applies on transfers after 9 March 2017 unless at least one of the following applies:

Both the individual and the QROPS are in the same country after the transfer

The QROPS is established in Gibraltar or a country within the EEA and the member is UK resident or resident in a country within the EEA or Gibraltar

The QROPS is an occupational pension scheme sponsored by the individual’s employer

The QROPS is an overseas public service pension scheme and the individual is employed by one of the employer’s participating in the scheme

The QROPS is a pension scheme established by an international organisation and the individual is employed by that international organisation

If the transfer is not liable to the overseas transfer charge at the point of transfer, UK tax charges will apply if, within five tax years, an individual becomes resident in another country so that the exemptions would not have applied to the transfer.

Who can put in place a QROPS?

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Estimated study...

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