§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Lord McIntosh of Haringey)My honourable friend the Financial Secretary (Mr Stephen Timms) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The new simplified regime for taxation of pensions starts on 6 April 2006. To achieve the levels of efficiency and effectiveness that both we and the pension industry want from the new regime, I can today announce that registered pension schemes will be required to send online forms and make electronic payments to the Inland Revenue from the start of the new regime on 6 April 2006.
38WSThe decision to move to a fully online service was taken after extensive discussions with the industry over the summer.
There are still a number of issues of detail on how precisely we can achieve an e-based regime and we will be asking the pensions industry, software suppliers and other interested parties to work closely with us on this.
The Inland Revenue will be publishing a short paper early next month outlining the key issues and areas it would like to work on together with those who will be involved in registered pension schemes.