Pension Death Benefits Explained
Pension death benefits ? you can take it or leave it!
Those looking to pass on their pension fund received a boost today when the Government confirmed they’re following through on their promise to scrap the current 55% tax charge on death. This means the tax system will no longer penalise those who draw sensibly on their pension fund, making pensions a very attractive wealth transfer wrapper.
What’s changing?
Your age at death will still determine how your pension death benefits are treated. The age 75 threshold remains, but with some very welcome amendments.
- Death before 75 – The pension fund can be taken tax free, at any time, whether in instalments, or as a one-off lump sum. This will apply to both crystallised and uncrystallised funds, which means those in drawdown will see their potential tax charge on death cut from 55% to zero overnight. Using the fund to provide beneficiaries with a sustainable stream of income allows it to potentially grow tax free, while remaining outside their estate for IHT.
- Death after 75 – DC Pension savers will be able to nominate who ?inherits’ their remaining pension fund. This fund can then be taken under the new pension flexibility and will be taxed at the beneficiary’s marginal rate as they draw income from it. Alternatively, they’ll be able to take it as a lump sum less a 45% tax charge.
These new rules will apply to payments made on or after 6 April 2015 rather than the date of death. So where payment of death benefits can be delayed until after 5 April 2015, the beneficiaries will be able to take advantage of the new rules.
The changes can be summarised as follows:
Death pre 75
| Old rules | New rules | |
| Lump sum |
|
|
| Income |
|
|
Death post 75
| Old rules | New rules | |
| Lump sum |
|
|
| Income |
|
|
What does this mean for advice?
Funding
Taken with all the other pension changes coming in April 2015, this creates a genuine incentive to save, knowing that family members can benefit from the remaining fund. It means that a pension will become a family savings plan, enabling one generation to support the next.
Drawing an income
The current 55% tax charge on death acts as a penalty for scheme members who take a sustainable income from their pension pot. The only way to delay this charge is for a surviving dependant to continue taking an income from the fund.
The option of taking a lump sum is often overlooked in favour of postponing the tax charge until the dependant’s death.
The new rules will mean that beneficiaries other than dependants may now benefit from the remaining fund, without suffering a 55% penalty.
Death before age 75 offers the option of a tax free lump sum. But it also allows the fund to remain within the pension wrapper which the beneficiaries would have flexible access to. And nominating a loved one to take over the flexible pension pot will also be a popular choice when death occurs after this age.
These changes will standardise the death benefit treatment for the different flexible income options from next April. There won’t, for example, be any difference between taking phased flexi-drawdown or phased withdrawal, as crystallised and uncrystallised funds will be treated the same on death.
Making instructions known
It will become even more important that death benefit instructions mirror the scheme member’s wishes. A nomination or expression of wish will help to guide the scheme trustees in their decision making. You wouldn’t knowingly entrust what happens to your home or other assets on death to a stranger. If there are no instructions in place, you’re relying on the pension scheme trustees to second guess your intentions. And with such wholesale changes to the death benefit rules to come, advisers will need to revisit existing nominations at their next client reviews.
All eyes on 3rd December
It’s worth stressing that more detail is awaited, particularly on the operational elements of how the new rules will work in practice. The next step is to see the full details in the Autumn Statement on 3rd December. We’ll provide updates on the final pieces of the pensions reform jigsaw, as it all starts to slot into place. Watch this space.
