Treasury U-turn is victory for common sense

A Treasury U-turn on the pension reforms has been hailed by a Sipps firm as "a victory for common sense". Barnett Waddingham has welcomed the Treasury's announcement today that it is abandoning requirements on savers to contact all previous pension providers when accessing new freedoms.Under the Taxation of Pensions Bill amendments tabled last month savers were told they must contact all their existing pension providers within 31 days of accessing their new freedoms.This was to ensure that providers took account of the tax implications when flexible pension pots were accessed causing the annual tax relief allowance to be reduced from £40,000 a year to £10,000.In amendments tabled by Chancellor George Osborne yesterday, the Government will now only require savers to contact providers who they are currently contributing to or those and those which they contribute to in the future. {desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile} Also the deadline for doing this will be extended to 91 days – although savers who fail to meet this deadline will still face a fine of £300 plus £60 for each subsequent day beyond that.Barnett Waddingham senior consultant Malcolm McLean said today: "This is quite a major U-turn by the Treasury but is welcome nonetheless. Many of us had pointed out that the original proposals were unworkable and actually quite unnecessary."They placed an unreasonable onus on individuals to track down all their pension holdings and to do so within a very restricted timescale. The revised rules are now much more pragmatic whilst still providing the necessary protections the Treasury require. This is clearly a victory for common sense".

Treasury U-turn is victory for common sense - Sipps firm

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