I remember these sorts of schemes being heavily promoted to us as financial advisers a few years ago. The idea was that you could help the film industry, get a little of the glamour of being a movie financier and it would all be tax-free and bring down your tax bill into the bargain. My mantra on these things have always been that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is; and if I don’t understand it (what the heck is ‘sideways relief’ when it’s at home?), I shouldn’t be recommending it. So I didn’t. I know a few clients who were tempted and had a go themselves, but had the sense to realise it was a gamble which might not (and didn’t) pay off, in both cases because the films were never made. Many advisers working in the ‘high net worth’ market, however, did try to be, in my opinion, rather too clever, and it seems both they and their now not so high net worth clients may have caught a nasty cold. Caveat Emptor.
“IFS calls for govt to scrap 25% tax-free lump sum”
’Scrapping’ the tax-free lump-sum would not be a simple as it sounds. Nothing in the wonderful world of pensions, ever is. In 2006 ‘Pensions Simplification’ was the New Big Thing.
