HMRC is to overhaul pension tax system after £1.3bn overcharges as Corporate Adviser reports.
The website reports that a switch to regular tax codes guarantees that tax is taken out accurately from the beginning and prevents pensioners from having to request refunds later.
HMRC says this will “avoid an overpayment or underpayment at the end of the year”.
Good news all round.
Last week’s news review examined the government’s letter writing to regulators about growth and the FCA response.
Here’s reminder of that FCA response including a claim from FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi that the regulator is “revolutionising provision of financial advice”.
Whether advisers agree that the guidance boundary reforms add up to a revolution is another matter of course.
But another pertinent question is whether Rathi has promised enough to keep his job.
Two reasons for such speculation from this week’s news. First the chair of the Competition and Markets Authority apparently did not promise enough in terms of growth, and he was unceremoniously sacked.
Marcus Bokkerink was replaced by former Amazon UK head Doug Gurr, as Civil Service World reports.
A lot of this may be about relationships with Big Tech of course. Yet there could be financial services implications as well.
The FCA boss in both his letter and in an article in the FT (£) has effectively challenged the government to set out what level of consumer harm is acceptable if a growth agenda is fully pursued.
In terms of regulators, this is bracing and bruising stuff. Your reviewer wouldn’t be surprised if Rathi does not stay long in charge of the main regulator.
In other news, the FCA has decided to scrap its British Steel redress calculator from April 2025 as FTAdviser reports.
Transact’s CEO Jonathan Gunby will retire from his role at the platform in March 2025, the business announced this morning.
Gunby will be replaced by Transact’s chief development officer Tom Dunbar as Citywire New Model Adviser reports.
