Pension Tax Breaks Cut Back

Headline:
Pension Tax Breaks Cut Back, In Latest Blow To Middle Classes.
Daily Telegraph 14 October 2010

Reality:
Not quite! Our ''take'' on the latest set of changes to pensions tax relief is set out below.

Yesterday the Treasury announced its proposals to simplify pensions tax relief. Predictably, there were some scary news headlines.

True, there will be losers, The Treasury say 100,000, the Press are already talking this up. We see the worst hit will be:

• High earners in final salary pension schemes, who receive big pay rises
• Those with pension funds approaching or above £1.5 million, but less than £1.8million
• The self employed, or employees not in final salary schemes, earning less than £130,000pa, paying more than £50,000 into a pension.

If we know that you are in any of the above categories, we will contact you personally to provide further guidance on the changes and how they affect you.

But...there will also be a small group who may benefit from the changes. 

If you earn more than £130,000pa the new rules offer the prospect of tax relief at 40%, or even 50% on contributions of up to £50,000pa, allowing you to save for your retirement tax efficiently.

Again, if we know that you are affected, we will be in personal contact.

If you know any else who may be affected, please do forward this email. For those of you who don't know, Mo, Duncan and I all hold the Chartered Insurance Institute G60 Pensions Qualification, which is recognised in our business as ''expert status''. Having taken a few exams in my time, it was probably the hardest!

I hope this helps to bring clarity on an otherwise complex subject.

Regards

Simon 

P.S In case you haven't seen it already please click here for more good news from Wednesday's Express and Echo.