Lifetime allowance abolished: essential Q&A

The lifetime allowance may have been abolished, removing one specific area of pension pain, but that doesn’t mean pension planning overall has become more straightforward.

 
The changes to pension rules in the 2023 spring budget have thrown up a series of issues which might affect your pension planning. Here, we answer some of the questions you might have about what to do next. 

1) Should I restart my pension contributions?

If you paused pension contributions because you were concerned you might breach the lifetime allowance of £1,073,100, you may want to make further tax-efficient additions to your pot. The pension annual allowance is £60,000 in the 2024/25 tax year. You might also be able to carry forward unused annual allowances from the previous three tax years, potentially enabling you to contribute up to £200,000 (including tax relief) to your pension pot by 5 April.

This could be particularly beneficial for those in higher income tax brackets. For example, someone earning £160,000 a year could make a £60,000 gross pension contribution, resulting in their adjusted net income falling to £100,000. Doing this could enable them to avoid the additional-rate income tax rate and it would also reinstate their tax-free personal allowance (which is tapered once adjusted net income exceeds £100,000).

2) What should I do if I already have fixed protection?

If you have fixed protection in place, whether 2012, 2014 or 2016, which maintained your lifetime allowance at a particular level, you may wonder if it’s worth starting to make contributions again. However, this isn’t a straightforward decision.

If you make further contributions in the 2024/25 tax year, you can keep making further contributions without losing your entitlement to the higher value tax-free lump sum, so long as your fixed protection was in place before 15 March 2023.

3) Can I still take my pension tax-free lump sum?

The pension tax-free lump sum is capped at £268,275, so even though it is now possible to build a larger pot without incurring a lifetime allowance tax charge, the tax-free lump sum amount available from the fund will not exceed this limit. This may affect the timing of your decision to start drawing money from (or ‘crystallise’) your pension.

4) Should I reconsider my inheritance tax plans?

Pensions usually sit outside your estate and so are not subject to inheritance tax (IHT) when you die. Depending on your circumstances, building up your pension pot could play a role in your estate planning strategy. This is a complicated area, so it is worth discussing with an expert.

5) Should I be thinking beyond pensions?

Although the abolition of the lifetime allowance makes pensions more attractive, there may be other investment approaches that better suit your needs. ISAs can play an important role in retirement planning, but understanding how Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) or Enterprise Investment Schemes (EISs) operate may add a different dimension to your decision-making. It’s important to seek advice before investing into one of these schemes as they are specialist, high-risk investments that may not be appropriate for all investors.

Next steps

Understanding how the abolition of the lifetime allowance will affect you isn’t easy, and that’s where getting some financial advice can help. A financial adviser can help you clarify your situation and run through all your options. By getting financial advice that is tailored to your individual circumstances, you’ll feel more confident that you’re making the right decisions for you.

The value of investments, and any income from them, can fall and you may get back less than you invested. This does not constitute tax or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in the future. Information is provided only as an example and is not a recommendation to pursue a particular strategy. Information contained in this document is believed to be reliable and accurate, but without further investigation cannot be warranted as to accuracy or completeness.