Guidance

Pension schemes newsletter 110 - May 2019

Published 29 May 2019

1. Relief at source

a. Submitting the annual return of information through SDES

In Pension Schemes Newsletter 108 we explained that from 6 April 2019 we’ll only accept relief at source annual returns of information for any tax year that you submit using the Secure Data Exchange Service (SDES).

We want to remind pension scheme administrators that if you try to submit your return by any other means (for example email, CD, USB stick), your submission will fail and we will still consider your annual return to be outstanding. You’ll have to re-submit your annual return of information using SDES.

b. Transitional arrangements ending for information on excess relief

As you may know, The Registered Pension Schemes (Relief at Source)(Amendment) Regulations 2018 introduce a 90 day deadline for scheme administrators to give HMRC information about excess relief claimed and repay the excess relief to HMRC. The regulations also prescribe the information that scheme administrators must give to HMRC for tax months ending on or after 5 April 2018.

In Pension Schemes Newsletter 97 we told you about transitional arrangements that we were introducing for 2018 to 2019 on the information you should tell us about excess relief that you’ve claimed. We introduced these arrangements for 2018 to 2019 to give you time to update your systems and processes so that you can tell us the information required by legislation.

These transitional arrangements will end on 5 July 2019. After 5 July 2019 you must tell us the information as set out in these regulations.

To help you send us the right information, we’ve published a spreadsheet that you can use with added guidance so that when you click on the column headings you’ll see more information to help you complete the spreadsheet.

We’ve also added in validation so that the greyed out cells will turn white when you’ve entered the correct information. They stay grey if the information you’ve included is incorrect or incomplete, or if you leave a mandatory cell blank.

c. Annual return of information for 2018 to 2019

In Pension Schemes Newsletter 108 we told you that we’d published the 2019 versions of both the relief at source spreadsheet and the electronic flat text file specifications alongside the existing 2018 versions on GOV.UK and we explained that you can choose which version to use if you’re submitting annual returns in 2019 to 2020.

To make sure that we can process your annual return of information, you should always use the versions of the spreadsheet and electronic flat text file specifications that are currently on GOV.UK and not a version that you’ve saved from a previous year.

Although the information on the published 2018 version of the relief at source spreadsheet on GOV.UK has not changed and this version of the spreadsheet does not look different to versions from previous years, we’ve made some slight formatting changes to this version to help us process your return. Using an older version of the spreadsheet could mean that we cannot process your return and this could fail.

If you’re submitting an annual return of information you should use:

• the 2019 version of the relief at source spreadsheet
• the 2019 version of the electronic flat text file sprecifications
• the 2018 version of the relief at source spreadsheet
• the 2018 version of the electronic flat text file specifications

d. APSS590 annual return of information declaration

In Pension Schemes Newsletter 106 we explained that for your annual return of information for 2018 to 2019 and later tax years you must submit a declaration and in Pension Schemes Newsletter 108 we confirmed the APSS590 – Annual return of information declaration had been published and must be submitted as part of your return.

Please make sure that you submit the declaration when submitting your annual return of information, as this forms part of your return. Without it your return will fail and this could lead to future relief at source interim repayments being stopped.

You can send the APSS590 annual return of information declaration either by post or email this to us at [email protected] and put ‘APSS590 – Annual return of information declaration’ in the subject line of your email.

e. Using SF references on your annual return of information

To make sure that we can provide you with a residency status for your member so that you can give your members tax relief at the right rate and to avoid any delays whilst you look up the residency status for members that are not on your notification of residency status report, you should use the pension scheme tax reference (PSTR) and not the SF reference for the schemes on your annual return of information.

If you currently use an SF reference on your annual return of information but you are not sure of the PSTR for your scheme we can help with this. You can email us at [email protected] and put ‘Annual return of information – SF Ref’ in the subject line of your email and we’ll help you to obtain the PSTR so that you can include this on your 2018 to 2019 annual return of information.

f. Update to the relief at source residency status look up service

We’ve updated the look up residency status for relief at source service to include the Welsh residency status.

2. Consultation on the transposition of the Fifth Money Laundering Directive

HM Treasury has opened a consultation on the steps that the government proposes to take to meet the UK’s expected obligation to transpose the Fifth Money Laundering Directive into national law.

This is your opportunity to comment on how the change to require all express trusts to register, not just those who are liable to pay tax, would impact on registered pension schemes. You may find the questions set out in chapter 9 of the consultation of particular interest.

You can email your response to this consultation to [email protected] by 10 June 2019 or write to:

Consultation on the Transposition of 5MLD
Sanctions and Illicit Finance Team (2/27)
HM Treasury
1 Horse Guards Road
London
SW1A 2HQ

3. Managing Pension Schemes service – user research

HMRC is looking for people to help improve the Managing Pension Schemes service. If you’re interested in taking part in research and giving us feedback, you can join the Managing Pension Schemes user panel.

As a member of the panel, you’ll only be contacted about the Managing Pension Schemes service.