New queries, issue 4613

Pension confusion

How are lump sums from pension funds taxed after April 2015?

I am hoping someone can provide me with a beginner’s guide to the taxation of lump sums from pension funds since April 2015.

My understanding is that we now have two ways of obtaining a lump sum from a pension fund as follows:

• put the fund into (flexi-access) drawdown; or
• take an uncrystallised funds pension lump sum (UFPLS).

With drawdown my understanding is that up to a quarter of the value of the fund can be taken tax-free. Therefore it is not necessary to start drawing the pension just because it is in drawdown because the undrawn fund can remain invested and growing. However I believe that with UFPLS it is 25% of what is taken out that is tax-free.

With this in...