Pension tax relief reform could cost 'hundreds of millions'

David Heaton, employee benefits partner at Baker Tilly, said the government has been "softening up" the public ready for a blow to higher rate pension relief for some time. He said Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published figures last week claiming that pensions tax relief has increased by 87% over the past decade to £33bn last year. However, he said the figures were published out of context to make pension relief look more expensive. "It is not surprising that the amount of tax relief has gone up with 33% more people now higher rate tax payers," he said. "There are al...