Latest - TAX AND TRUSTS

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  HMRC and SSAS scrutiny

  9 April 2019

  Gareth James, head of technical at AJ Bell looks at where typical use of SSAS is coming under HMRC scrutiny and offers some dos and don’ts when advising clients SSASs have attracted regulatory and press attention for all the wrong reasons in the last few years. The primary cause of concern has been the...

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  Fears around NHS staff confusion in opting out of ‘generous’ pensions offering

  8 April 2019

  Chase de Vere Medical has warned that NHS employees are shunning the NHS pension scheme because of a lack of understanding of the valuable benefits they stand to lose.  According to a recent Freedom of Information request by the Health Service Journal, 245,561 NHS staff have opted out of the NHS pension scheme in...

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  Maximising pension allowances

  7 April 2019

  Daniel Hough, wealth management consultant, Mattioli Woods, looks at the issues for clients seeking options to maximise their pension for retirement through additional contributions. As we know, the most you can personally pay into your pension (and get full tax relief) in a tax year is up to 100% of your relevant UK earnings,...

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  Lack of IHT planning despite ‘Jenga tower’ of rules to overcome

  28 March 2019

  The majority of UK adults are not seeking advice on how to pass their wealth to the next generation, despite inheritance tax receipts hitting a record high of £5.2 billion in 2018 and a system that has become increasingly complicated to navigate. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of UK adults have not sought any information or advice...

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  Estate planning ignorance is opportunity for advice firms

  26 March 2019

  Advised clients are far more knowledgeable about the benefits of estate planning and particularly use of pensions for inheritance tax planning purposes, than the non-advised general population, new research has revealed. This creates opportunities for advice firms.  Nine in ten advisers said their clients were aware of the changes to pension death benefits following the...

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  Probate fee increases are undisguised death tax

  21 March 2019

  National advisory firm LEBC Group has called on the government to withdraw plans to impose what it says is a new “death tax” on estates from April. The Office of Budget Responsibility has confirmed that probate fees will increase from April 2019, resulting in costs rising from £215 to £6,000 for those with estates...

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  What paraplanners need to know when using commercial property within self-invested pensions

  21 March 2019

  What are the issues and practical considerations involved of using commercial property within self-invested pensions? Michael Hulse, Wealth Management consultant at Mattioli Woods provides a walk-through of the process and what paraplanners need to consider. One of the many advantages of self-invested pensions, whether those be small self-administered schemes (SSASs) or self-invested personal pensions...

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  Technical: When and how can clients best access pension lump sums

  20 March 2019

  John Keenan, head of Corporate Development, Xafinity SIPP & SSAS, examines the rules that apply to pension lump sums and how they can be accessed efficiently by clients. The breadth of pensions’ subject matter, especially within SIPP and SSAS, is vast, meaning it can be easily forgotten that at the heart of any pension...

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