Rowanmoor Pensions Completes Registered Pension Scheme Returns

Since A-day, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) can request the completion of a Registered Pension Scheme Return from any registered pension scheme. SSASs are considered by HMRC to require regular monitoring and Rowanmoor Pensions understands that HMRC’s intention was to issue a Registered Pension Scheme Return for the 2006/2007 tax year to each of the UK’s 38,000 SSAS schemes. The returns were to be submitted by 31 January 2008.

Responsibility for completion of these returns falls to the scheme Administrator. Failure to have filed a return by the due date will result in a fine of £100, plus the possibility of incurring a further £60 per day for late submission. Not all SSAS practitioners undertake the role of scheme Administrator, which means the responsibility can fall on the client or, in some cases the IFA. Added to that is the complication that these returns had to be filed online.

Ian Hammond, Managing Director at Rowanmoor Pensions, said: “There are a number of reporting standards to be adhered to, not least the Registered Pension Scheme Return, which must be submitted annually by January 31 each year for the previous fiscal year, to avoid fines. These are complex and time-consuming, and without good accounting practices, systems and processes in place, it could leave the scheme open to fines. This is the first time the industry has had to file these returns since legislation changed at A-day and Rowanmoor Pensions, as the UK’s largest independent scheme Administrator, is pleased to announce that all of the 4000 Registered Pension Scheme Returns we were required to complete were done accurately and to deadline.”