HMRC Pensions Individual Protection application/ Now available

As an update from the last tax year (2013/2014), we note that the HMRC website has been updated today and now includes full details of the new Individual Protection for pensions, along with a facility to apply for this online.

This application can be found here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes/ip14online.htm

Chapters Financial is not responsible for the content of external webpages.
As a reminder, the HMRC website confirms:

Individual Protection 2014

The government announced that individual protection 2014 will be available when the lifetime allowance is reduced to £1.25 million for 2014-15. Individual protection 2014 will operate from 6 April 2014, for those with pension savings valued at over £1.25 million on 5 April 2014.

Individual protection 2014 will give a protected lifetime allowance equal to the value of your pension rights on 5 April 2014 - up to an overall maximum of £1.5 million. You will not lose individual protection 2014 by making further savings in to your pension scheme but any pension savings in excess of your protected lifetime allowance will be subject to a lifetime allowance charge.

You'll be able to apply for individual protection 2014 from 18 August 2014. Your application must be received by HMRC no later than 5 April 2017.

You can hold both fixed protection 2014 and individual protection 2014.You can also hold individual protection while holding either enhanced protection or fixed protection but you can't apply for individual protection if you already hold primary protection.

Summary

Pensions and HMRC protection can be a complicated subject, dependent on your individual circumstances. If you would like to consider the points noted above further then please do not hesitate to contact the team at Chapters Financial, who will be able to help you further with your pension enquiries. No individual advice is provided during the course of this blog. If you would like to receive further information regarding your own individual situation and circumstances, please contact the Chapters Financial team in either Guildford or Woking.

Keith Churchouse BA Hons FPFS
Director, Chapters Financial Limited
Chartered Financial Planner
Certified Financial Planner
ISO22222 Personal Financial Planner


Chapters Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, number 402899.

2013, a year of change in the delivery of financial advice

2013 has been an interesting year in the financial world with, amongst other headlines, the Bank of England's base rate remaining at its historic low of 0.5% and a change of Governor, the growth in the FTSE 100, and unemployment remaining stubbornly high.

It was only a year ago that we, amongst many other financial advisory companies, were planning for the change in the way financial advice is delivered to the public in the UK. We saw some moving in a positive fashion, preparing to meet the demands of the Financial Services Authority (replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in April this year) under their Retail Distribution Review (RDR) requirements. However many providers, including most of the High Street Banks, found the significant changes too much and withdrew from the market. Each had their own reasons, but it reduced the access that some of the public have to financial advice, as confirmed by the FCA later in the summer of 2013, referring to their ‘concerns’ to the Treasury Select Committee in September 2013. To be clear, there have been benefits to the changes, such as transparency of charging, and we have been advocates of this for many years.

With these RDR changes now nearly a year old, the team at Chapters Financial has seen a significant increase in business over 2013. This may be partly due to a better economic environment, however, we would argue that this is also due to the reduction in advice providers and the maintenance and enhancement of the quality of advice our services provide. As you may have read on our website, we were delighted to have achieved BS8577 certification in late summer 2013, which confirms our high and consistent standards. To improve our coverage of West Surrey, we have also opened a new additional office in Central Woking.

We hope that 2013 has been as positive for you as it has been for Chapters Financial, as our chartered financial planning company heads towards the end of its first decade in business in the south east and London. We plan to expand still further in future years and hope that we can help many more clients, businesses (SMEs) and enquirers.

If you would like to receive further information with regards to your own individual situation and circumstances, then please contact the team, either in Guildford or Woking.

Keith Churchouse FPFS

ISO22222 Personal Financial Planner

Chartered Financial Planner 

Chapters Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, number 402899.

Wedding Season Gifting / Allowances

As the summer approaches, so does the wedding season, usually at great expense to those involved, including parents.

As the big day arrives, many arrangements and expenses will need to be catered for and it usually a time when parents and grandparents, along with others think about making financial gifts to the happy couple.

Many of our clients and Blog readers will know that thy can gift away £3,000 in a tax year and for this gift to fall outside the donors estate from day one. If they did not use this allowance in the previous tax year, they can go back on year (£6,000 total).

For gifts on marriage, there are additional inheritance tax (IHT) allowances, as follows:

·         From a parent to a child on marriage: £5,000

·         From a grandparent (or great grandparent) to a grandchild on marriage: £2,500

·         Gifts from others as a single amount: £1,000

Further details are available on the HMRC website here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/pass-money-property/exempt-gifts.htm#1

(Chapters Financial is not responsible for the content of external webpages)

You may want to take these gifts into account if a family member is getting married this summer.

You may also want to update your will to reflect this addition to your family and for future offspring. We do recommend that you keep your wills up to date and can recommend a local solicitor if you do not have your own contact/ arrangements.

I hope the day goes well!

If you would like to know more about this planning or your inheritance tax allowances then please contact the team at Chapters Financial Limited on 01483 578800.

No individual advice has been provided in the text of this blog. You should seek independent financial advice (IFA) in your own circumstances.

Keith G Churchouse, FPFS

Director
ISO 22222 Certified Financial Planner
Chapters Financial Limited

Chapters Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, number 402899. The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate legal advice.