Guidance

Newsletter 153 — October 2023

Published 26 October 2023

Pension flexibility statistics

HMRC can now give more information on the number of tax repayment claim forms processed for pension flexibility payments.

From 1 July 2023 to 30 September 2023, we processed:

• P55 — 12,007 forms
• P53Z — 4,890 forms
• P50Z — 1,954 forms

Total value repaid: £61,305,602

The tax repayment figures for the period 1 October 2023 to 31 December 2023 will be published in Pensions schemes newsletter ― January 2024.

Registration statistics

For the period 6 April 2023 to 30 September 2023 HMRC received in total 831 applications to register new pension schemes.

Of these applications, 57% have been registered and HMRC has currently refused registration for about 12% of applications. No decision has yet been made on the remainder.

Managing Pension Schemes service

Event report

Pension scheme administrators and practitioners can now use the Managing Pension Schemes service to create, compile and view event reports in-year, for the tax year 2023 to 2024 onwards. You can read more about the launch of the event report in September’s Managing pension schemes newsletter. 

If your pension scheme has a Pension Scheme Tax Reference (PSTR) beginning with 0, and you have not already done so, you will need to migrate the pension scheme to the Managing Pension Schemes service to be able to compile and submit your event report. You can only submit your event report once the tax year has ended, unless you’re reporting that the pension scheme has:

• wound up ― you must report this on the event report within 3 months of the scheme wind up completing
• become or ceased to be a master trust ― you must report this on the event report within 30 days of the event

Find more information about sending pension scheme reports to HMRC.

Two steps to migrating your schemes ― enrol and migrate

Take action to migrate your pension schemes now.

As a scheme administrator, you must first enrol on the Managing Pension Schemes service, using the Government Gateway username and password for your existing ‘A0’ administrator ID. If you have multiple scheme administrator IDs, you must enrol on the Managing Pension Schemes service using the username and password for your ‘Master’ ID.

You can find more information on ‘Master’ and ‘Ancillary’ IDs in migrating your pension schemes to the Managing Pension Schemes service.

After you’ve enrolled, you must migrate your pension schemes. To do this:

1. Sign in to the Managing Pension Schemes service.
2. Select ‘Add a pension scheme from the Pension Schemes Online service’.
3. Select each scheme you need to migrate and provide the information requested.

Pension scheme return

We previously told you that from next year, you’ll need to submit pension scheme returns for the tax year ending 5 April 2024, and subsequent tax years, on the Managing Pension Schemes service, instead of using the Pensions scheme online service.

We’ll continue to update you about the pension scheme returns through HMRC communications channels, including emails and future newsletters on GOV.UK. Please therefore make sure your pension scheme administrator details are up to date on both our services, so we know who to contact with more information.

The pension scheme return will be used to ensure compliance with the Finance Act 2004. This means we’ll ask for more information than we used to for previous pension scheme returns completed on the pension schemes online service. We’ll be extending the requirement to submit a pension scheme return to more schemes, this means even if you have not previously received a notice to file a pension scheme return, you might in the future.

Types of pension scheme return

There will still be 2 types of the pension scheme return, standard and self-invested personal pensions (SIPP). The type of scheme you have registered will determine which pension scheme return you will have to complete.

For the standard return, at scheme level, depending on the size of the pension scheme you will need to include full details of:

• scheme members
• loans and repayment arrangements
• shares held in a sponsoring employer, unquoted shares and from a connected party
• land or property held or disposed, leaseholds and property transaction particulars
• bonds held or disposed of and other asset transactions

For the standard return, at member level, depending on the size of the pension scheme you will need to include full details of:

• scheme member information; name, national insurance number and date of birth
• employer and member contributions
• transfers in and out
• pension commencement lump sum and pension amounts
• surrendered benefits

For the SIPP return at scheme level you will need to provide designatory details. At member level, for all members, you will need to include more details relating to:

• land or property held or disposed, leaseholds and property transaction particulars
• arms-length land or property transactions
• assets acquired and disposed of from or to a connected party
• tangible moveable property transactions
• loans made or outstanding and repayment arrangements
• unquoted shares acquisitions and disposals

We’ll provide further information on the pension scheme return in future newsletters.