Finance Act 2004

173 Benefits

(1) A registered pension scheme is to be treated as having made an unauthorised payment to a member of the pension scheme if an asset held for the purposes of the pension scheme is used to provide a benefit (other than a payment) to—

(a) the member, or

(b) a member of the member’s family or household.

(2) If the benefit is received by reason of an employment which is not an excluded employment, subsection (1) does not apply.

(3) If the benefit is received by reason of an excluded employment, subsection (1) only applies if—

(a) it is a benefit to which Chapter 6 or 10 of the benefits code (cars and vans, and benefits not dealt with elsewhere in benefits code) would apply if the employment were not an excluded employment,

(b) the pension scheme is an occupational pension scheme, and

(c) the member, or a member of the member’s family or household, is a director of, and has a material interest in, a sponsoring employer.

(4) A registered pension scheme is to be treated as having made an unauthorised payment in respect of a member of the pension scheme if, after the member’s death, an asset held for the purposes of the pension scheme is used to provide a benefit (other than a payment) to a person who, at the date of the member’s death, was a member of the member’s family or household.

(5) The person who receives the benefit is to be treated as having received the unauthorised payment.

(6) If the benefit is received by reason of an employment which is not an excluded employment, subsections (4) and (5) do not apply.

(7) If the benefit is received by reason of an excluded employment, subsections (4) and (5) only apply if—

(a) paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (3) apply, and

(b) at the date of the member’s death the member, or a member of the member’s family or household, was a director of, and had a material interest in, a sponsoring employer.

(8) The amount of an unauthorised payment treated as having been made by this section—

(a) in relation to such benefits, and in such circumstances, as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Board of Inland Revenue, is an amount determined in accordance with the regulations, and

(b) otherwise, is the amount which would be the cash equivalent of the benefit under the benefits code if the benefit were received by reason of an employment and the benefits code applied to it.

(9) For the purposes of subsection (8)—

(a) references in the benefits code to the employee are to be treated as references to the member, and

(b) references in the benefits code to the employer are to be treated as references to the pension scheme.

(10) In this section—

• “the benefits code” has the meaning given by section 63(1) of ITEPA 2003,

• “director” has the meaning given by section 67 of that Act,

• “excluded employment” has the meaning given by section 63(4) of that Act, and

• “material interest” has the meaning given by section 68 of that Act.

(11) Section 721 of ITEPA 2003 applies for the purposes of determining the members of a person’s family or household.