Who might want to apply for FP2016?
One example of someone who might benefit from FP2016 would be someone who had a sizeable pension pot as at April 2016 but one below the £1m new LTA. Investment growth alone might be expected to take the value of the pot above the £1m mark before the individual took his/her benefits.
They could not apply for IP2016 (because their pot was below £1m), but by signing up for FP2016 could protect themselves against LTA charges provided that their pot did not rise above the old LTA level of £1.25m. They can only retain Fixed Protection if they make no further pension contributions after 6th April 2016, but Fixed Protection is not lost if the pension pot grows purely because of investment returns being added to the fund.
Who might want to apply for IP2016?
To be able to apply for IP2016, the saver would need a pension pot worth between £1m and £1.25m and could lock in their own personal LTA at this level. But under IP they would be allowed to carry on building up pension rights – perhaps through continued service in a Defined Benefit pension scheme. Although they would still be at risk of an LTA charge if they end up above their personal LTA, the LTA used in the calculation would be value of their pension wealth as at 2016 rather than the £1m figure that would otherwise apply.
How do you apply?
Given the complexity of this issue, it is generally a good idea to take financial advice when considering applying for protection against LTA charges.
Applications for FP16 and IP16 should be made on-line using HMRC’s website at
http://www.gov.uk/guidance/pension-schemes-protect-your-lifetime-allowance
Users will need to have an online HMRC account. HMRC will provide you with your “protection notification number” as well as a “pension scheme administrator reference number” which will be available to for you to view online and print to show to your schemes, so the schemes can process your benefit using your protected LTA. Note that, for IP16, you will need to get the HMRC value of your benefits as they stand at 5 April 2016 (you may need to ask your schemes for figures – but your statutory right to this information expired in April 2020).
Where someone dies and an LTA charge is established during the process of winding up an estate, it may be possible for their executors to apply posthumously for LTA protection. In some cases this could result in a substantial tax saving.
Commenting, Steve Webb, partner at LCP said:
“Limits on pension tax relief have been cut repeatedly in recent years and savers who planned on the basis of much higher limits can find themselves on course for large tax bills when they start to draw their pensions. Anyone whose pensions already exceed the Lifetime Allowance or who thinks that they might to do so in future should check to see if applying to HMRC for protection would be to their benefit”.
