The government has set out further details about the secondary annuity market. In last March's Budget the Chancellor launched a consultation considering how existing pension annuity holders would be able to sell their annuity in return for a taxable lump sum. The logic behind the idea was to give existing pensioners the same flexibility as…
Read moreAuthor: Martin Pryor
Last month's Autumn Statement marked another future tax increase for buy-to-let. "Frankly, people buying a home to let should not be squeezing out families who can't afford a home to buy." Those words from Chancellor George Osborne, heralded the announcement in the Autumn Statement of an increase in Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) for the…
Read moreThe basic state pension will rise by nearly 3% next April. The Autumn Statement confirmed that the basic state pension will rise by £3.35 a week to £119.30 a week from next April. The increase of 2.9% is the result of the 'triple lock', which requires the basic state pension to increase each April by…
Read moreThe doors of PPM are now closed for another year, when they re open in 2016 we will be celebrating our tenth year in business which is very exciting (well to us anyway!). Thank you as always for your support of our business and wish you the best of possible Christmas times.…
Read moreThe Autumn Statement revealed more evidence that the government is counting the cost of tax relief on pension contributions. When auto-enrolment into workplace pensions started in October 2012, the legislative intention was that the level of contributions as a percentage of qualifying earnings (those between £5,824 and £42,385 in 2015/16) should rise from the current…
Read moreThe first Thursday in November - coincidentally Guy Fawkes' Day - was a "Super Thursday" for the Bank of England. These now occur once every three months and see an avalanche of information emerging from the Bank. The Monetary Policy Committee's decision on interest rates is accompanied by both the meetings' minutes and the Bank's…
Read moreMore employers are failing to meet their obligations. The latest report on ‘compliance and enforcement’ from the Pensions Regulator shows that the recent batches of employers due to auto enrol have not been as prompt as their predecessors in meeting their responsibilities. In the third quarter of 2015, the regulator issued 469 ‘compliance notices’ requiring…
Read moreThe United States Federal reserve has moved closer to an interest rate rise next month. In September the USA’s central bank, the Federal Reserve (the ‘Fed’) surprised a fair few investment ‘experts’ by deciding not to increase short term interest rates. The Fed’s Chair, Janet Yellen, had earlier been dropping hints that September could see…
Read moreThis month’s Autumn Statement will not reveal and major pension tax reforms. Parliamentary questions are sometimes no such thing. Instead, they are mechanisms by which the government can reveal a decision on which it would prefer not to make a formal announcement. A good example (see below) occurred in late October in an exchange between…
Read moreHM Revenue & Customs' (HMRC's) accelerated payments programme has now collected £1bn from users of tax avoidance schemes. Last year HMRC gained the power to demand upfront tax payment from users of tax avoidance schemes subject to the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes (DOTAS) rules or the General Anti-Abuse Rule, or where a similar scheme…
Read more2 p.m. New York time on Thursday 17 September had been much anticipated by investment professionals around the world. It was the hour when the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee would release its meeting statement, revealing its latest interest rate decision. Ahead of the announcement there had been much speculation that an interest rate 'lift-off'…
Read moreA Miserable Summer It was not just the poor weather that made it a bad summer for investors! Index Third Quarter Change FTSE 100 - 7.04% FTSE All-Share - 6.57% Dow Jones Industrial -7.58% Standard & Poor's 500 -6.94% Nikkei 225 -14.07% Euro Stoxx 50 (€) -9.45% Hang Seng -20.59% MSCI Emerging Markets (£) -15.42%…
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