Pip pip: Everything advisers need to know about pension input periods

Where's Gladys Knight when you need her?

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Aligning pension input periods to tax years has arrived ten years too late, according to James Jones-Tinsley. Here he delves into the complicated transitional arrangements...

When the concept of a pension input period (PIP) was first introduced as part of the ‘A-Day' pension taxation regime in April 2006, an opportunity was arguably missed by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), to align all PIPs with the tax year. Instead, a host of PIP permutations were permitted by HMRC; thereby precipitating complication and confusion among individuals, particularly where concurrent pension arrangements each had different PIP-end dates. Another opportunity was then (partly) missed by HMRC in April 2011. Even though all new pension arrangements opened after 5 April 2011 had a d...

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