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The lack of tinkering with pensions in the recent budget has been welcomed by the industry. Surprisingly pensions were not even mentioned despite speculation beforehand that ‘pensions could be a budget victim’ to help pay for the promised increased spending for the NHS.

Pensions have been touted as a potential victim for cuts, with justification mooted for the increasing costs of the current tax relievable contributions, and/or how to better distribute those benefits amongst everyone rather than the wealthy enjoying the majority.

We offer the freedom for clients to manage their own commercial property. This can have significant cost benefits for clients but it is essential that they understand what is involved and undertake the necessary property management functions.

Salary sacrifice or the sacrifice of earned bonus is probably the most tax-efficient way of getting money into a pension plan especially if the employer is prepared to augment the bonus given up by the national insurance contribution that would have been payable on it.

As a SIPP provider, we are often asked to comment on the acceptability of an asset. Despite the uncertainty surrounding SIPP due diligence, one point is not in dispute and that is the willingness to avoid taxable property.

Martin Tilley, Director of Technical Services, looks at where proposals to add commercial land to a SIPP are more likely to be accepted.

We will walk through a scenario where a SIPP is used to buy the client's shop premises with a residential flat above.

A number of factors, including the Annual Allowance (AA), govern the amount of contributions to an individual’s pension schemes in any tax year that could be eligible for tax relief, and individuals should seek advice before contributions are paid.

With over 30 years' experience at Dentons, Martin Tilley reviews the changes and growth in the self-invested pension market.

The Money Purchase Annual Allowance is the total amount of contributions that can be paid to an individual's money purchase arrangements in a tax year. A number of actions will trigger this allowance.

We cover a number of key legislation matters that affect SIPP and/or SSAS.

George and Dennis Gibley have a problem and have approached their financial adviser. The brothers' company has turned in a record year and profits will exceed £150,000 resulting in a corporation tax bill of around £28,500.

The pensions industry has now received clarification from Revenue Scotland on the treatment of in specie transfers of Scottish property between registered pension schemes.

Dentons achieve 5 star service award!

Pension freedoms have opened the floodgates for scammers and conmen to prey on people who are keen to access their pensions. They are using increasingly sophisticated and convincing ways to ‘con’ people out of these savings.

Within the Dentons Group of Companies, DPM Legal is a law firm providing expert legal advice on a range of residential and commercial property transactions.

Dentons continues to perform well in the second independent report from FinalytiQ on the financial strength and stability of 'bespoke' SIPP Providers.

Dentons has always aimed to offer clients the widest choice of assets within their self invested pension however we have now made the decision to no longer accept new requests for direct individual accounts or stockbroker accounts to trade in foreign exchange (FX) or contracts for difference (CFDs) within our Dentons SIPP or SSAS portfolios.

SIPPs holding assets deemed as ‘non-standard’ now have to be recorded carefully by the SIPP operator and these impact on the required level of a SIPP operator's capital adequacy provision. As a result a number of SIPP providers are either stopping or restricting the level of non-standard assets they will accept.

'Baby boomers' have now started to, and will, for the next twenty or so years reach the end of their working lives. Britain will have a larger proportion of its population at, or in retirement, than ever before and as this group of individuals reaches retirement, crucial life changing decisions need to be made.