Ark scheme members face 'punitive' charges as tax tribunal appeal fails

The decision could impact both the members and the schemes

Jonathan Stapleton
clock • 7 min read

Hundreds of members of the Ark workplace pension schemes face paying ‘punitive’ penalty tax charges after a Dalriada-led appeal against tax charges levied by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was unsuccessful.

The appeal - which was heard in the First-Tier Tribunal Tax Chamber in December - centred on how six Ark pension schemes and their members should be taxed after the High Court ruled in 2011 that the payments from the schemes to individuals constituted "unauthorised payments", meaning members and the schemes themselves would be subject to tax charges. Ark Business Consulting was a limited liability partnership which set up six pension schemes which were used to give members early access to their pension money using controversial maximising pensions value arrangements (MPVAs) structures us...

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