Pension Choices: a Tax Guide 2013/14

Having worked in tax for more years than I care to remember I felt I was au fait with the old rules for retirement annuity payments and personal pension contributions and the intricacies of carry back carry forward etc; although these were complex and could prove difficult to explain to clients.

The old rules were revoked on “A-day” when a wholly new set of pension rules effective from 6 April 2006 was introduced. These much simplified the question of pensions and tax relief.

Regrettably since A-Day successive governments appear to have decided that the rules were too simple and too many people were making pension provision and receiving substantial tax allowances.

I scratch my head at this point because that was surely the point of simplifying the rules at least in part. Matters have become more complex since 2006 and we...