The Ssas industry faces a “clean up” under new HMRC measures set out by the Labour Party government ahead of the new tax year.
HMRC is ramping up pensions scheme returns – with investigations into “malpractice”. The Ssas industry faces a “clean up” under new HMRC measures set out by the Labour Party government ahead of the new tax year.
From April 6, it will no longer be possible to file a pension scheme return using the HMRC Pension Schemes Online Service. Speaking to FT Adviser, Richard Mattison, director at Whitehall Group, has commented on the shake up.
“Our view on this is that although it is a big piece of work not previously required, the legitimate traditional Ssas providers shouldn’t have a problem,” Mattison said. HMRC will send you a notice to file 2024 to 2025 returns for schemes on the Managing Pension Schemes service.
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HMRC will ask for more information than we used to for previous pension scheme returns completed on the Pension Schemes Online service. Depending on the size of the scheme, different information will be required as part of the return.
You’ll only need to submit a pension scheme return if we send you a notice to file. Even if you have not previously received a notice to file a pension scheme return, you might in the future. If you are a Pension Scheme Administrator responsible for more than one scheme, you may have to complete a return for each scheme you manage.
“This is specifically DIY Ssas cases where the members have operated their pension scheme on their own without any professional assistance and the practitioner-only cases where the only professional involvement has been to submit regulatory returns without any governance, oversight, administration or trusteeship to ensure these pension schemes operate within the rules,” he explained.
“We take on cases like this from time to time and they are almost always a mess and in urgent need of being brought into line. As the new pension scheme returns will be looking at activity retrospectively it may be too late to carry out a tidy-up operation and the result will be hefty tax penalties from HMRC. Overall, these could run to tens or even hundreds of millions of pounds.”
“But it is clear that HMRC will not be tolerating rule-breaking and the clean-up of the Ssas market is now under way,” Mattison added.
