umbrella pension trust

kizzwizz

Is there anybody out there who has sucessfully completed a pension restructure via an umbrella pension trust? Please dont confuse this with a pension release/loan. There is some bad press associated with this process but as yet I can find no evidence of anybody not getting what they expected.

Aegis

kizzwizz wrote: »

Is there anybody out there who has sucessfully completed a pension restructure via an umbrella pension trust? Please dont confuse this with a pension release/loan. There is some bad press associated with this process but as yet I can find no evidence of anybody not getting what they expected.

What sort of restructure are you talking about? If, as I suspect, it's anything where the policyholder receives an immediate benefit from their pension scheme, then it's a scam just like pension loans.

Just because something hasn't got bad press yet doesn't mean it won't.

xylophone

http://www.justanswer.com/uk-tax/7alj8-umbrella-pension-trusts-legal-current-financial.html

Discussed above.

as yet I can find no evidence of anybody not getting what they expected.

And have you evidence of people getting what they expected?
And a definitive answer from HMRC?

dunstonh

I have been told by a tax adviser that it is possible and due to small volumes (this was a few years ago) that they were not on the HMRC radar. However, the minute HMRC wants to take an interest, they would likely fall foul.

Anything that allows a UK resident to access their pension fund before age 55 is in breach of the intentions of UK legislation. Different ways of doing the same thing still end up in a result that HMRC do not allow.

Apparently, some of these umbrella schemes are known to invest in assets previously owned by the scheme promoters. They sell worthless assets artificially inflated in price leaving the residual pension fund with worthless assets. Others have annual charges that are so high that the fund will erode away. You can spot the schemes that are likely to fail due to their lack of FSA regulation and very often being based abroad or using agents/investments from abroad.

kizzwizz

Thanks for your feedback but I need to find some real examples of individuals that have undertaken this process.

Aegis

kizzwizz wrote: »

Thanks for your feedback but I need to find some real examples of individuals that have undertaken this process.

Why do you need to find such people?

kizzwizz

After exhaustive research my feeling is that they do do what they say but it is a possibility that HMRC may target these trusts in the future. It would be informative to have a case study to back up/dismiss these thoughts.

jamesd

You can't find any reliable case studies. HMRC can go back and charge people for things done in past years, so even if someone did it five years ago HMRC can pursue them tomorrow if they want to.

xylophone

Presumably you could seek advice from HMRC or the Pensions Regulator?

Proxy

kizzwizz wrote: »

Thanks for your feedback but I need to find some real examples of individuals that have undertaken this process.

Sounds like you've made your mind up. Why are you asking here?

If you do have some doubt as to the scheme's legality, there's a good reason for that.