James Hay: Clients look to raid pension using flex drawdown

James Hay head of technical support Neil MacGillivray questioned whether such a move is in the best interests of clients. "We've had more queries from people wanting to use flexible drawdown to strip out their pension," he said. "You have to ask how well thought through the process is and ask them what they want the money for? It's fair enough if they need the money for a specific purpose but don't just take it out because you can as it can be very tax inefficient." Higher rate tax payers face a 40% tax charge on any income taken but if the client dies the estate could face a further ...