The Registered Pension Schemes (Provision of Information) (Amendment) Regulations 2017

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Registered Pension Schemes (Provision of Information) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/567) (“the 2006 Regulations”) which concern the provision of information by persons such as members and scheme administrators of registered pension schemes.

Regulation 1(2) provides that the information requirements imposed by regulation 3 have effect in relation to payments of lump sum death benefits made by registered pension schemes to trustees on or after 6th April 2016. Regulation 1(3) provides that the amendments made by regulations 4 and 5 have effect for the tax year 2016-17 and subsequent years. Power to make legislation with retrospective effect is contained in section 282(A1) of the Finance Act 2004 (c. 12), which allows regulations made under Part 4 of that Act (including under section 251) to include provision having effect in relation to times before they were made if the provision does not increase any person’s liability to tax.

Regulation 3 inserts new regulations 10A and 10B into the 2006 Regulations. Regulation 10A imposes information requirements on a pension scheme administrator when a lump sum death benefit payment is made to a trustee in specified circumstances. Regulation 10B imposes information requirements on a trustee when making an onwards payment to an individual of part or all of that sum. The information that is provided by the scheme administrator to a trustee and passed on by a trustee to an individual, will enable an individual to submit a repayment claim to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in those cases in which the amount deducted in respect of the special lump sum death benefit charge exceeds the tax that would have been paid by the individual at their marginal rate of tax.

Regulations 4 and 5 make minor technical changes to regulation 14A of the 2006 Regulations.

A Tax Information and Impact Note covering regulation 3 of this instrument was published on 8th July 2015 as part of the Summer Budget 2015 and is available on the government website at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/443242/5013_Taxation_of_lump_sum_death_benefits.pdf. It remains an accurate summary of the impacts that apply to regulation 3. A Tax Information and Impact Note has not been prepared for regulations 4 and 5 of this instrument as they contain no substantive changes to tax policy.