PSI3.1.26 - Membership of Schemes: Eligibility - Membership of an Employer's Occupational Pension Scheme and Personal Pension Schemes - s632B Eligibility ("Concurrency")

(This archived guidance relates to HMRC discretionary practice before the 6th April 2006. For current guidance on Registered Pension Schemes see the Registered Pension Schemes Manual)

If the employee satisfies all of the five bullet points below, he/she is eligible to contribute to a personal pension scheme in a tax year when he/she is also a member of an employer's occupational pension scheme (these are for "concurrency" membership and are set out in s632B ICTA 1988) -

• the employee is not eligible under either of the two alternatives at PSI3.1.25 above, AND
• he/she is a member of an employer's occupational pension scheme throughout the entire tax year, AND
• one of the following is satisfied

• for at least one of the last five tax years, his/her aggregate grossed up remuneration from each office and each employment held on 5 April of that earlier tax year did not exceed the remuneration limit (£30,000 as at 6 April 2001), AND
• he/she is not/has not been a controlling director of any company at any time in the tax year or the last five tax years.

Personal pension benefits arising from contributions made to the personal pension scheme during a period of eligibility under this paragraph are not treated as retained or aggregable benefits when applying Inland Revenue limits to benefits from any occupational pension scheme. Where only part of the personal pension benefits have arisen during periods of concurrency membership, the relevant proportion of the benefits can be ignored, the rest are retained or aggregable benefits, as appropriate (see PSI Part 6.5). It can be assumed that the benefits have accrued evenly over the total period of membership of the personal pension. Any fluctuation in the level of contribution and rate of investment return can be ignored.

More details about these eligibility criteria can be found in Part 3 and Appendix 1 of IR 76 Inland Revenue Guidance Notes on Personal Pension Schemes (including Stakeholder Pension Schemes) or by contacting the Personal Pension Helpline on 0845 600 2622.