HMRC have published their latest Pension Scheme newsletter (161 August 2024).
Although the target audience for this is pension scheme administrators, ICB provides information that is relevant to members, never forgetting the diverse nature of the bookkeeping profession, and we recognise that this may not be valid for all. However, we want to make you aware of its existence and give an overview of some of the contents:
Lifetime Allowance (LTA) Abolition
This section refers back to the Pension Schemes Newsletter 158 (April 2024) and how legislation will be introduced to address ‘technical inaccuracies’ in the legislation that abolished this from April 2024. This is in draft form now and will be introduced following the UK Parliament’s recess.
As we have stated, this is not an issue that bookkeepers should advise on but, maybe, you can point clients to ‘Lifetime allowance (LTA) abolition ― frequently asked questions’ on Gov.UK.
Relief at Source
This section reminds pension scheme administrators that the deadline for submitting 2023/24 annual returns of information was 05 July 2024 – and there are some returns that are still outstanding. Therefore, as the deadline has passed, HMRC will not be able to complete its processing.
There is also a reminder for scheme administrators that the annual returns must be formatted correctly.
The Managing Pension Schemes Service
This is an online service that will, in time, replace the Pension Schemes Online service. Scheme administrators have been migrating to this service over the last few years, becoming mandatory in April 2025. Therefore, the newsletter details that scheme administrators should be migrating now and details the action they should take (i.e. migrating from Pension Schemes Online to the Managing Pension Schemes Service).
ICB recommends reading ‘Migrating your pension scheme to the Managing Pension Schemes Service’ guidance if this is relevant to you.
For Bookkeepers
As ICB have stated, bookkeepers are responsible for the collection, reporting and remittance of pension contributions, not administration of the pension scheme itself. Therefore, publication of this Newsletter is for the sake of members being aware of its existence.
