Pensions: what’s new this week - September 23, 2024

HMRC: Latest pension schemes newsletter

HMRC has published its latest Pension Schemes Newsletter (no. 162), confirming that regulations to make further corrections to legislation following the abolition of the lifetime allowance will be brought forward as soon as parliamentary time allows. The newsletter also invites administrators to register for a workshop on changes to RTI and reporting relevant lump sums from April 2025; and provides information on changes to the lifetime allowance protection look-up service. This will be moved onto the Managing Pension Schemes service next year and will be extended to cover enhancements as well as protections.

Read the newsletter.

First-Tier Tribunal rejects fixed protection appeal

A taxpayer has failed in his bid to make HMRC accept his application for fixed protection even though it was made ten years after the deadline: Haigh v HMRC.

Mr Haigh made his application on 24 July 2022; the deadline was 5 April 2012. HMRC refused to accept the notice and later rejected Mr Haigh’s appeal. Mr Haigh asked the First-Tier Tribunal (FTT) to rule that HMRC could (and should) exercise discretion in his favour and argued that HMRC did not adequately inform people in his position of changes to the lifetime allowance – had HMRC done so, he would have applied by the 2012 deadline.

The FTT held that its jurisdiction was limited to considering whether the requirements for making an application for fixed protection were met – it had no jurisdiction to review the exercise of HMRC’s discretion or consider the issue of reasonable excuse. It also confirmed that HMRC does not have a statutory duty to notify all taxpayers potentially affected by changes in the law. The fact that Mr Haigh was unaware of the lifetime allowance did not affect the outcome of the appeal.

Read the decision.