Pension schemes newsletter 68 - April 2015

29 May 2015

Pension Schemes Newsletter 68 published by HMRC, contains an update on relief at source and the National Insurance number statements required for entitlement.

The following information is detailed in the newsletter. HMRC will update guidance on GOV.UK to cover this.

Relief at Source

4b. National Insurance number statements

We are aware that some schemes may be accepting statements from members who have a national insurance number but who have not provided this to the scheme administrator.

Under Reg 4(2), The Registered Pension Schemes (Relief at Source) Regulations 2005 - SI 2005/3348 it states that when members join a scheme and before they make their first RAS contribution they, or a representative will have to provide the scheme administrator with some basic personal information such as full name, permanent residential address (including postcode if resident in the UK), date of birth and National Insurance number.

If the member does not have a National Insurance number, they can provide a statement giving reasons why they do not hold such a number, for example because they are under the age of 16 or a citizen of a country outside the United Kingdom who is not resident in the United Kingdom.

A pension scheme should not accept contributions as relievable contributions without the relevant declarations/statements as set out above and a member has no entitlement to relief at source. If a scheme makes relief at source claims for members in these circumstances, HMRC is entitled to ask for the relief at source to be repaid.

If a member doesn’t know if they have a National Insurance number or has lost their National Insurance number, they can find more information about how to trace this on GOV.UK - Find a lost National Insurance number.

The Newsletter also includes information on:

  • Tax vouchers submitted with R63N claims
  • Pensions Tax Manual
  • Pension liberation
  • Certificates of residence
  • Pension flexibility – tax on payments to scheme members, reporting and quantifying flexi-access payments on RTI, tax free payments - 25% tax free on UFPLS retraction, tax free payments – death benefit lump sums. application of revised tax codes, pension flexibility - new tax repayment claim forms.

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