provided by the individual’s employer. If this is not the case, there will be a 25% tax charge on the transfer and the tax charge will be deducted before the transfer by the scheme administrator or scheme manager of the pension scheme making the transfer. This announcement widens the scope of UK taxing provisions so that, following a transfer to a QROPS on or after 6 April 2017, they apply to payments out of those transferred funds in the five tax years following the transfer. Whilst this measure supports the government’s objective of promoting fairness in the tax system, it continues to allow overseas transfers from pension schemes that have had UK tax relief that are made when people leave the UK and take their pension savings with them to their new country of residence. As a result of these changes, an overseas scheme cannot be a QROPS unless the scheme manager has given HMRC an undertaking that they will operate the new overseas transfer charge and pay this to HMRC when due. For the purposes of these new undertakings only, HMRC will deem existing QROPS to continue to meet the ‘qualifying’ requirement to be a QROPS until 13 April 2017. If by 13 April 2017 HMRC has not received the new undertaking the overseas scheme will automatically cease to be a QROPS.
From 14 April 2017 HMRC will suspend the ROPS notifications list and publish an updated list on 18 April 2017.
If you are involved with QROPS you can find new and updated forms on GOV.UK. HMRC will reject old versions of the forms used for transfers made from 9 March 2017.
Student loans
Postgraduate Doctoral Loans
Alongside the publication of the Budget 2017 report a number of consultation responses were published, amongst which is the government response to the consultation on Postgraduate Doctoral Loans . This paper sought views on the technical aspects of the design of this new loan product that will come in to repayment from April 2019. The main findings from the consultation are: The age restriction of ‘59 and under’ strikes an appropriate balance between enabling the broadest possible access to doctoral study and mitigating the risk of non-repayment; The doctoral loan is unlikely to incentivise large numbers of students to study purely for personal benefit; There is little support for an alternative proposal of capping the number of doctoral loan places per institution; The proposed maximum course length of six years would benefit students who need to study part time. Additional flexibility may be needed for some students and, according to more than 30 universities, the government should consider extending the loan length to seven or eight years; To ensure timely completion of doctoral programmes, universities are generally favourable to the idea of reporting students’ progress as a trigger for loan payments, however, the frequency of progress reporting currently varies between institutions; There is strong support among respondents for the loan to be available for all Level 8 doctoral degrees; The proposed approach of basing loan eligibility on a student’s qualification intentions appears to be sensible, but would need clear guidance and FAQs for applicants; The loan ought to complement other forms of public and private funding for doctoral programmes, in the interests of ensuring choice for students.
Part-time Maintenance Loans
The government has published its response to the consultation on the provision of Part-time Maintenance loans .
In a bid to tackle the decline in part-time undergraduate Higher Education, the government proposes to introduce a new part-time maintenance loan for students starting a degree in academic year 2018-19. It then intends to extend this support to distance learning course and level 4 and 5 higher education qualifications from the academic year 2019-20 subject to the development of a robust control regime to manage particular risks and challenges associated with this mode of study.
Tax administration and simplification
Making Tax Digital
The government will provide an extra year, until April 2019, before Making Tax Digital is mandated for unincorporated businesses and landlords with turnover below the VAT threshold. This will provide them with more time to prepare for digital record keeping and quarterly updates.
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Policy News Journal
cipp.org.uk
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