Failure to heed warnings about pension changes

The taxpayer converted his small self-administered scheme into a self-invested personal pension with Suffolk Life in 2003. The company wrote to him in 2005 2006 and 2008 to tell him about the changes to pensions and the introduction of the lifetime allowance. The taxpayer took no action because he thought he was unaffected given that his fund was worth about half the limit.

In 2017 while converting the pension back to a small self-administered scheme his new adviser told him he had a lifetime allowance problem and he should make a late claim for enhanced protection. This he did but HMRC refused the claim saying the taxpayer should have followed up the earlier warnings from Suffolk Life. Further he had ‘not shown that he was unable to obtain advice or to investigate the position for himself’.

The First-tier Tribunal agreed with HMRC. It said the...