Take tax free lump sum before the budget

artyboy

Aretnap said:

jim8888 said:

Surely we'd have to be given notice of such a fundamental change, and allow us to make plans accordingly? The TFLS was a massive part of my retirement planning, I'd have been incandescent if the rules changed overnight, and I'm sure many other voters would be too.

Not saying that it's likely to happen, but if a cut to the tax free lump sum were to be implemented, it's the type of tax change which would likely to come into force immediately. Precisely to avoid the scenario where everybody in the country who is over 55 and has a large pension takes the full amount before the change comes into effect, and avoiding the tax it's supposed to raise.

It's quite common for tax rises to come into force immediately if they could be easily avoided by rearranging your affairs. Increases to capital gains tax are an obvious one which tend to be brought in with little or no notice.

...shortly to be followed by riots in the streets...