REGULATORY EXPERTISE
INSIDE PENSION TECHNICAL -
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN ASKING ...
Handling nearly 2000 queries a month , our Pensions Technical Team are one of the busiest helpdesks at SimplyBiz and Compliance First . In this edition of The Adviser , we were delighted that Austin , Helen , and Alison from the Pensions Technical Team – surely familiar faces to many of you – could spare some time to share some of the most common questions they ’ ve received in recent months .
Austin Roddy , Pensions Technical Adviser
Q
My
A
Yes
Q
My
A
Yes
client is planning to move abroad before the end of this tax year . She is currently making a net contribution of £ 160 per month (£ 200 gross ) into her personal pension plan and wants to know if she can continue to contribute after she moves overseas ?
, her contributions can continue , and she will be able to contribute up to £ 3,600 per annum ( gross ) for five full tax-years after the tax-year she moves abroad , and she won ’ t need to have relevant UK earnings to support these contributions . This means the £ 160 net contribution could be increased to £ 240 per month (£ 300 gross ). However , this increase would need to be actioned before she moves abroad because UK pension providers don ’ t have the necessary cross-border permissions to increase contributions if she is already residing overseas .
client is aged 76 and continuing to work as the sole controlling director for his limited company . I understand his age prevents him from receiving tax relief on his own pension contributions , but his company is making sizeable profits and could afford to make significant pension contributions for him . Is it still possible for these employer contributions to qualify as a business expense that would reduce the company corporation tax bill ?
, these employer contributions would reduce the company profits assessable to corporation tax . The client is the sole controlling director of his limited company , which means HMRC would deem him worthy of any remuneration package he wished to create for himself . This means the employer pension contributions paid into his pension would qualify as a legitimate business expense .
16 | the adviser