Pensions Tax Simplification Newsletter 29

31 August 2007

Contents

  • Introduction
  • Finance Act 2007
  • Assignment of Annuities
  • Overpayments made in Error
  • Code of Practice 10: the application of the last four Finance Acts rule to enquiries about pension legislation in Finance Act 2004
  • Mandatory electronic filing of information with HMRC (e-mandation) – an important reminder
  • Contact Us

Introduction

Welcome to the twenty ninth edition of the Newsletter. This edition includes a summary of the Finance Act 07 changes along with a number of other articles that we trust will be of benefit to our customers.

Please can you pass this Newsletter on to anyone else in your organisation who you think may find it useful.

Finance Act 2007

This year’s Finance Bill received Royal Assent on 19 July 2007 and has now become the Finance Act 2007 (FA07).

Provisions relating to pensions schemes can be found at sections 68 to 70 and Schedules 18 to 20 FA07. These Schedules make amendments to Finance Act 2004 (FA04). Further information on the changes is set out below.

Personal Term Assurance

Section 68 and Schedule 18 FA07 introduce a new section 195A into FA04. The effect is that any member contribution used to pay premiums to a personal term assurance policy will not be tax relievable where paid to

  • an occupational pension scheme after 31 July 2007, or
  • any other registered pension scheme after 5 April 2007.

A personal term assurance policy (a non-group life policy) is a policy that either

  • will only ‘pay out’ on the death of one individual, although a number of people may be covered by the policy, or
  • will ‘pay out’ on the death of more than one person where all the individuals covered by the policy are connected (broadly, this means family members).

Certain policies are protected from the changed treatment, and member contributions to these policies may continue to receive tax relief. Protected policies are

  • any policy issued under an occupational pension scheme before 1 August 2007 where the insurer had received the application for the policy before 29 March 2007, and
  • any policy issued under a non-occupational pension scheme before 1 August 2007 where the insurer had received the application before
    • 14 December 2006 where the member has no pension rights under the scheme, or
    • 13 April 2007 where the member also has, or is accruing, pension rights under the same scheme

The terms of a protected policy cannot be varied to increase the benefits payable or extend the term of the policy. If such a variation occurs the policy will lose its protected status and member contributions used to pay policy premiums will not be eligible for tax relief.

A policy that provides benefits on, or in anticipation of, the death of more than one person, and where the individuals are not connected is not a personal term assurance policy. Tax relief on premiums to this type of policy is unaffected.

Tax relief on employer contributions is not affected by this change.

Alternatively Secured Pensions

Clause 69 and Schedule 19 FA07 makes a number of amendments to FA04 and the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 relating to alternatively secured pensions (ASPs).

There is now a requirement for the amount of ASP paid in an ‘ASP year’ to a member or a dependant to be at least 55% of the ‘basis amount’ for that year (minimum income). If the minimum income is not paid in the ASP year, the scheme is treated as having made a scheme chargeable payment (subject to a tax charge of up to 40%) equal to the difference between the amount actually paid and the minimum income. So for example if nothing is paid in the year the scheme chargeable payment is equal to the minimum income that should have been paid in that year.

The maximum amount of ASP that can be paid in an ASP year has increased from 70% of the basis amount to 90%.

The provisions remove transfer lump sum death benefits from the authorised payment rules in cases where the member or dependant dies on or after 6 April 2007. This means that such payments will be unauthorised.

The facility to guarantee an ASP for a period of up to 10 years from when the member became entitled to it is removed where the member dies on or after 6 April 2007.

There are also provisions introduced for members who are untraceable at their 75th birthday. Where such members had previously been drawing an unsecured pension, their funds will not automatically be treated as becoming held in an ASP at this point. Instead, subject to certain conditions being satisfied, the funds will effectively remain in suspense until the member is traced. When the member is traced, then if the funds have not within 6 months been used to purchase or provide a scheme pension or annuity, they will at that point be treated as becoming held as an ASP fund. The ASP provisions, including the minimum income requirement, will then start to apply.

Finally, consequential changes are being made to the inheritance tax rules largely to address the interaction of inheritance tax with the unauthorised payment charges on the same ASP funds.

Miscellaneous Amendments

Clause 70 and Schedule 20 FA07 contain miscellaneous measures amending FA04. These include changes designed to give schemes, employers and pension savers additional flexibility, as well as some dealing with transition to the new regime, and measures to prevent abuse of the new rules. The main changes are set out below with references to where the main amendments are made to FA04.

Persons by whom registered pension schemes may be established (s154, s155 & s273 FA04)

From 6 April 2007 an application for registration of a personal pension scheme can be made only if the scheme has been established by a person with permission to do so in the UK under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

This change does not affect occupational pension schemes.

Unauthorised payments reduced by amount of scheme sanction charge (s160 FA04)

For unauthorised payments made on or after 6 April 2007, the amount of the unauthorised payment will be the actual payment as increased by any amount withheld to cover the scheme administrator’s liability to pay the scheme sanction charge in respect of the payment. This change ensures consistency of approach. A further payment to the member representing all or part of the amount withheld need not be an unauthorised payment if paid within a specified time.

Changes to transitional provisions (Sch 36 FA04)

The range of circumstances in which a transfer can take place without loss of enhanced protection from the Lifetime Allowance charge has been extended to include

  • A partial transfer to a money purchase arrangement (that is not a cash balance arrangement), or
  • A transfer from a defined benefits or cash balance arrangement to another defined benefits or cash balance arrangement made as part of a ‘relevant business transfer’

New paragraph 12(8A) Schedule 36 FA 04 defines ‘relevant business transfer’.

Other amendments to the transitional rules ensure that protection from the Lifetime Allowance charge is not jeopardised where changes are made to an individual’s pension arrangement under an occupational pension scheme

  • either in order for the scheme to limit its activities to “retirement benefit activities” and so comply with the 2004 Pensions Act
  • or to comply with the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations.

These changes are deemed to always have had effect. So where an individual with enhanced protection made a partial transfer to a money purchase arrangement (that is not a cash balance arrangement) after 5 April 2006 they will not have lost enhanced protection as a result of the partial transfer.

Pension commencement lump sums (PCLS) (Sch 29 FA04) as amended by paragraphs 9 to 11 Schedule 20 FA07

This amendment extends the period within which a PCLS may be paid free of tax to any time within an 18 month period starting 6 months before and ending 12 months after the date when the member becomes entitled to the related pension. However, entitlement to the lump sum must have arisen before the member’s 75th birthday. If the member dies having received a lump sum but before becoming entitled to the relevant pension, entitlement to that the lump sum is deemed to have arisen immediately before death. This change has effect from 6 April 2006.

Ill-health pensions (Sch 28 FA04)

This amendment allows scheme pensions paid early on ill-health grounds to be reduced at the discretion of the scheme administrator without requiring there to be medical advice. This is to help schemes to manage the costs of paying ill-health pensions in circumstances when it would not be appropriate under the scheme to stop the pension altogether. This change has effect from 6 April 2006 and is subject to the anti-avoidance provision in paragraph 2A of Schedule 28 FA 04.

2 year time limit on the payment of lump sum death benefits (Sch 29 FA04)

This amendment allows defined benefits lump sum death benefits and uncrystallised funds lump sum death benefits to be paid within 2 years of the scheme being notified of the member’s death - but if the scheme could have been reasonably aware of the member’s death at an earlier date then the time limit will be 2 years from that earlier date. This change will apply to payments made in respect of deaths on or after 6 April 2006.

Unsecured pension funds (Sch 28 FA04)

A review of the annual maximum withdrawal from an unsecured pension fund may be permitted more frequently than every 5 years but only at the direction of the member. The requirement that the maximum withdrawal needs to be reviewed at least every 5 years will remain. The change has effect in relation to notifications given on or after 6 December 2006.

Winding-up lump sums (Sch 29 FA04)

There is a change to the winding-up lump sum rules so that the conditions that need to be met by the employer apply only to the member’s current employer at the time the winding-up lump sum is paid and not to any previous employer. This will reduce the administrative burden on schemes winding up and help to speed up the winding up of schemes. The change has effect in relation to lump sums paid on or after 6 April 2006.

Assignment of Annuities

We have received a number of enquiries asking whether or not the assignment of an annuity contract from the scheme trustees to a member on the winding-up of a registered pension scheme is an authorised payment.

The situation in question arises where either

  • a lifetime annuity (or dependant’s annuity) is provided under an individual annuity policy/contract issued in the name of the scheme trustees;
    or
  • a scheme pension (or dependant’s scheme pension) is payable by the scheme and is funded in whole or in part by an annuity from an individual annuity policy held in the name of the trustees.

On wind-up of the scheme, the individual annuity contract is assigned from the scheme trustees to the member.

We can confirm that the assignment of the annuity policy/contract from the scheme trustees to the member is an authorised member payment in the circumstances where the annuity policy/contract provides the benefits that would otherwise have been paid by the scheme.

Further, the effect of section 161(3) and (4) Finance Act 2004 is that the payments from the assigned policy are deemed still to be made from the originating registered pension scheme, even after it has been wound up.

We can also confirm that the assignment does not entail the stopping of payment of a scheme pension or lifetime annuity, and so does not breach the conditions that a scheme pension or lifetime annuity must satisfy. From the pensioner’s perspective, nothing has changed and the pension income flow continues uninterrupted as before.

Our position here is by analogy with the way the tax legislation deals with authorised types of annuities generally. The purchase of such an annuity involves the payment by the scheme of consideration to the insurance company in respect of the member.

Overpayments made in Error

In Newsletter No 19 we announced that unauthorised payments not exceeding £250, which constitute overpayments of pension instalments made in error, do not need to be reported on the scheme Event Report and nor would the recipient have to report the payment on their own SA return.

We can confirm that this £250 limit includes unauthorised payments which take the form of lump sum payments made in error.

Further guidance on this will be included within the Registered Pension Schemes Manual in due course.

Code of Practice 10: the application of the last four Finance Acts rule to enquiries about pension legislation in Finance Act 2004

Code of Practice 10 explains the circumstances in which we will offer information or advice. If you are uncertain about our interpretation of the law, or the application of the law to a particular transaction, we will answer questions about the application of legislation in the last four Finance Acts.

Now that Finance Act 2007 has received Royal Assent the last four Finance Acts exclude Finance Act 2004. Exceptionally, there were two Finance Acts in 2005.

Although the bulk of Pension Simplification legislation is in Finance Act 2004 it did not come into force until 6 April 2006. For that reason and because there were two Finance Acts in 2005 we have decided to extend the period during which we will deal with pension enquiries about Finance Act 2004 under Code of Practice 10 for at least another year. We will also publicise in advance the date beyond which we will no longer accept Code of Practice 10 enquiries in relation to that legislation.

Before we can answer questions under Code of Practice 10 we need a certain amount of information from you. The information we need is listed in Appendix 1 of the Code of Practice.

Mandatory electronic filing of information with HMRC (e-mandation) – an important reminder

Newsletter No 27 published on 10 April confirmed that it will be mandatory for Scheme Administrators of registered pension schemes (this may include some employers and individual directors) to file the following information electronically and in the prescribed format from 16 October 2007:

  • An application to register a pension scheme
  • A Registered Pension Scheme Return
  • An Accounting for Tax Return
  • A Scheme Administrator’s Declaration
  • An Event Report
  • Notification of Winding-up a Registered Pension Scheme
  • Notification of Termination of a Scheme Administrator’s appointment.

The SA970 – Self Assessment Return for Pension Schemes – will continue to be issued on paper. It will not be mandatory to file any other form or return not listed above electronically.

With mandatory pension scheme e-filing now only a month and a half away, Scheme Administrators need to ensure that they are ready.

Filing information online

To submit information online, Scheme Administrators (or practitioners acting on their behalf) must register to use our Pension Schemes Online service. It can take up to seven working days to activate a new account, as some information has to be sent by post - this is done to verify your identity. With the deadline for mandatory e-filing fast approaching, those who have not yet signed up should do so now.

Our Pension Schemes Online Service allows you to file your forms and returns using either

  • Our free online Pension Schemes product; go to our homepage and select ‘Pension Schemes’ under ‘Do it online’, or
  • Third Party internet filing enabled software. For information around the technical requirements for third party software, go to the software developers pages.

If you need further help or advice on using Pensions Schemes Online, we have recently produced a new Guide to using the online service (PDF 149K). We hope that users find the revised guide an improved and helpful aid to using the online service.

From 16 October, if you do not file the information listed above through our online system, it will be returned to you and deemed as not received. If you fail to file or file late this may result in a penalty.

Further help and information

If you are a Scheme Administrator (PDF 58K) for your scheme but are unsure about your role and responsibilities, please see our Scheme Administrator factsheet.

For further information on pension schemes, please see Contact Us at the end of this newsletter.

If you have any questions relating to the HMRC online services, please contact the Online Services helpline on 0845 6055 999.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about anything to do with new tax rules and you can’t find the answer in the Registered Pension Schemes Manual, please contact us by e-mail or phone our helpline number 0115 974 1600 (9.00 to 17.00 Monday to Friday) or you can write to us at:

Pension Schemes Services (PSS)
Yorke House
Castle Meadow Road
Nottingham
NG2 1BG