Warning on SIPP and SSAS property rules

The change in tax rules means loans from pension funds secured against residential property will now be seen as an ‘unauthorised payment' and face a tax charge. Mary Stewart, marketing director of Hornbuckle Mitchell, says the change in rules is the next stage in HMRC's crackdown on residential property holdings within SIPP and SSAS. New HMRC regulations treat a scheme as having an interest in taxable property if it ‘holds the property or any estate, interest, right or power over the property'. Previously, the taxman did not consider property as security on a pension loan as ‘havin...