On 12 December 2018 the Scottish Government announced that the Scottish Income Tax rates will stay the same for 2019 to 2020 and Scottish thresholds will rise in line with inflation. So for 2019 to 2020 there will be no change to how pension scheme administrators operate relief at source for Scottish taxpayers. Scheme administrators should continue to follow the guidance HMRC provided in 2017. More information on this can be found on GOV.UK: • Use relief at source to reclaim tax relief given to your pension scheme members - GOV.UK • Pension schemes relief at source for Scottish Income Tax newsletter - February 2018 - GOV.UK.
Questionnaire about the Accounting for Tax Return and the Event Report s explained in the Manage and Register Pension Schemes service newsletter – December 2018, HMRC is now starting work on pension scheme reports and what these might look like on the new service.
With that in mind, if pension scheme administrators and practitioners could spare a few minutes to complete a short questionnaire on the Accounting for Tax Return and the Event Report, HMRC would be grateful.
Additionally, if any scheme administrators or practitioners are interested in taking part in user research on these subjects, they can email HMRC at: pensions.businessdelivery@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and put ‘Manage and Register Pension Schemes service – user research’ in the subject line of their email.
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Pension savings – changes to Annual Allowance helpsheet 9 January 2019
HMRC receive a high volume of questions from tax agents about what information is needed with regards to pension savings on the Self Assessment tax return.
Customers who exceed their annual allowance need to tell HMRC on their Self Assessment Return. This needs to be completed on the ‘Pension Savings Tax Charges’ section on page Ai 4 of the additional information pages.
Customers with a charge may opt for their scheme to pay it. This still needs to be recorded on their tax return but it’s important that the correct boxes are used to make sure they pay the right amount of tax. There is quite a high error rate in this area, so to help you get this right HMRC has revised and clarified its guidance on this subject. You can find it in helpsheet HS345: section 5.
HMRC highlighted this information in a recent tax agent blog.
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Adequate retirment income is the ‘central challenge’ for pension sector 15 January 2019
According to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) latest Sector Review, consumers lacking an adequate retirement income is the central challenge facing the pensions sector in 2019.
The FCA’s recently published ‘Sector Views’ provides its annual analysis of the changing financial landscape, the resulting impacts on consumers and market effectiveness. One of the sections of the report focuses on ‘Pensions savings and retirement income’. “The prospect that consumers may lack an income in retirement that is adequate or, at least, in line with their expectations remains the central challenge for the sector. Our analysis shows that areas such as pension scams, or poor value, or unsuitable products can all contribute to this central concern. In addition, the potential for poor pension services to lead to poor outcomes for consumers is an area of increasing concern.”
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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