No higher rate tax on pension pots under £18,000

Normally when you take your pension you have to buy an annuity - which provides an income for life from your savings.  But anyone with less than £18,000 in total pensions can take the whole lot as cash. The taxman calls this ‘trivial commutation', the Daily Mail reports. Wealthier savers with small pots worth less than £2,000 can turn up to two of these into cash. In the case of these small lump sums, HM  Revenue & Customs uses an emergency tax code and charges the higher-rate tax of 40 per cent. But the vast majority of savers with small pensions are basic-rate taxpayers. There...