RPSM09100150 - Technical Pages: Member benefits: Overview: Payments: Payments to a sponsoring employer

Payments to a sponsoring employer

The legislation deals with payments made by a registered pension scheme to (or in respect of) a person who is (or was) a sponsoring employer of the scheme in exactly the same way as with member payments. There is a definitive list of authorised employer payments and the characteristics a payment must exhibit in order to meet such definitions. Any payment to (or in respect of) an employer that does not fall within any of these definitions is an unauthorised employer payment and is taxed accordingly. There are also similar rules on connected transactions and value shifting.

Payments to employers and their taxation are covered in more detail in chapter 4.

Where a payment is made to or in respect of an employer who is not a person who is (or was) a sponsoring employer of the scheme concerned, the payment will fall to be treated as an authorised or unauthorised member payment, depending on the circumstances.