pensions tax relief

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) must evaluate the benefits that are provided by pensions tax relief, MPs have said amid concerns the tax office does not understand the impacts.

Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) has suggested the chancellor should take advantage of a large parliamentary majority to introduce a fundamental reform to pensions tax relief to raise significant sums.

There was no industry consensus on the benefits and negatives of scrapping high-rate tax relief from this week’s 115 Pension Buzz peers in split results.

This week’s 89 Pensions Buzz respondents agreed with The Pensions Regulator’s decision to hold back from mandating the use of professional trustees.

Speculation is growing that chancellor Sajid Javid is seeking to raise revenue by cutting the tax relief on pension contributions for high earners from 40% to 20%.

The government will pay out £21bn in income tax relief for pension contributions this tax year, while national insurance relief payments will rise to £18.7bn, according to statistics from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

With savers facing 100% of the potential downside of patient capital investment, as well as tax implications from the upside, Peter Glancy argues it is not the most enticing proposition.

The government must conduct a fundamental review of tax reliefs and allowances to reduce complexity and confusion, says Malcolm McLean

Any changes to pensions taxation must be deliberate, planned and controlled, with a clear end objective in mind, says Richard Butcher

Boris Johnson's mooted income tax reforms would create a double-edged sword whereby income tax winners would become pension tax relief losers, according to research by Aegon.