RPSM04106010 - Technical pages: Taxation: Inheritance tax and unauthorised payment tax charges on alternatively secured pension funds and dependants’ alternatively secured pension funds

Death before 6 April 2007

When a member of a registered pension scheme dies on, or after, reaching age 75 with funds remaining in an alternatively secured pension fund and the death occurs before 6 April 2007, it is possible that the scheme administrator will have to account for inheritance tax in respect of those remaining funds.

Example

Eric is a member of a registered pension scheme and has an arrangement under that scheme which provides alternatively secured pension. Eric has no other pension arrangements in this or any other registered pension scheme that provide alternatively secured pension.

Eric dies on 1st June 2006, age 78.

The value of Eric’s alternatively secured pension fund immediately before death is £600,000.

Eric leaves no dependants and the remaining alternatively secured pension funds of £600,000 are not paid as a charity lump sum death benefit. (Any remaining alternatively secured pension funds paid as a charity lump sum death benefit would be exempt from inheritance tax.)

The scheme administrator sends an account of the remaining funds of £600,000 to HMRC Inheritance Tax using forms IHT100 and IHT100g; the deadline for submitting the forms being 12 months after the end of the month in which Eric died.

The overall value of Eric’s chargeable estate for inheritance tax purposes, not including the remaining alternatively secured pension funds at the date of Eric’s death, is £1,000,000 giving a total estate of £1,600,000. After taking into account the inheritance tax ‘nil rate band’ of £285,000 for tax year 2006/07, the amount of Eric’s estate that is chargeable to inheritance tax is £1,315,000 (£1,600,000 - £285,000). The inheritance payable on the estate as a whole is £526,000 (40% x £1,315,000) of which £197,250 (£526,000 x [£600,000/£1,600,000]) is attributable to the remaining alternatively secured pension funds.

HMRC Inheritance Tax issue an inheritance tax calculation of £ £197,250 to the scheme administrator

The scheme administrator’s inheritance tax liability is met out of the remaining alternatively secured pension funds and is due on 31 December 2006 (6 months after the end of the month in which Eric died.

The balance of the alternatively secured pension funds after deduction of the inheritance tax liability are then applied as a transfer lump sum death benefit.

Glossary ( RPSM20000000)