Spring Budget: Relief for pension savers as Chancellor leaves pensions alone

Following the Spring Budget announcement earlier today:

Pension savers will be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief that the Chancellor has left pensions well alone. After years of tinkering at every budget, many will be thankful more change and complexity has not been heaped upon them. 
 
The reality is that we have witnessed a missed opportunity to tidy up the unsightly mess that is the current UK pension regime. We have an inherently unfair, over-complex system where there has been a near 80%* increase in recent years in those paying extra taxes for contributing too much to their retirement savings. The confirmation of the Money Purchase Annual Allowance at £4,000 is unfortunate and compounds complications for the over 55s. 
 
Hammond stated at the dispatch box that “Just as a strong economy requires a tax system that is competitive, a strong society requires one which is fair.” How the current punitive, pensions tax system stands up to judgement by either of those yardsticks is a question left unanswered.
 
Matthew Brown
Private Client Partner

*Citywire.co.uk 

Commentary appeared in:

Financial Planning Today (8th March 2017)

Financial Times (8th March 2017)

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