HMRC Pensions Tax Manual

10 September 2015

The Pensions Tax Manual (PTM) is HMRC’s guidance on the taxation of registered pension schemes and certain international pension schemes and replaces the Registered Pension Scheme Manual (RPSM).

Prior to the introduction of the PTM the RPSM provided the relevant guidance and was drafted in four different sections with different audiences in mind (technical pages, member pages, scheme administrator pages and employer pages). In 2015 the PTM was written as one manual, incorporating the guidance from the RPSM, following feedback that the original RPSM structure was difficult to follow. The PTM was originally issued in Spring 2015 in draft form for comment.

The PTM includes introductory overview guidance, where appropriate, as well as the technical guidance pages which pension specialists rely on. It is written to help HMRC staff as well as assisting customers and their advisors. Its structure takes into account the growing need for guidance on the taxation issues as they relate to registered pension schemes and certain international pension schemes from a number of different audiences.

The RPSM will eventually be removed from the GOV.UK website, but will still be accessible in its full form on the National Archives site.

CIPP comment At a Pensions Industry Stakeholder Forum held in June, attendees were “…reassured that for future PTM updates a list of the updated pages would be provided…”. We hope that this will be the case to ease the navigation of this extensive guidance. Comments on the PTM can still be submitted to PTM Consultation.