Climbdown By The Government Over Sipps

[dnd]

"Property investors are lining up to exploit controversial pension rules that take effect today after a climbdown by the government over allowing direct investment in buy-to-let flats and holiday homes."

"It is expected that more than £500m extra pension savings will be channelled into Self Invested Personal Pensions (Sipps), which savers can buy as either their main pension vehicle or to supplement occupational pension schemes"

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1747718,00.html

[FreeFall]

Call me a cynic, but I suspect that the A-day "let the rich stuff loads of money into pensions" is being brought into existence because the government plans to remove pension rights from anyone earning over a specified amount, or who has a private pension, at some point in the future. Hey presto - pension crisis, what pension crisis...?

[padders]

Well, if you are young (sub 35) and really think there is going to be a pensio for when you retire, I suggest you think again. The young really do need to setup pensions, the problem is no one trusts them.

[brainclamp]

Ros Altmann, a former pensions adviser to No 10, has dubbed the A-day rule changes a "scandal" and a "bonanza for the rich".

She said: "At a time when the government says it cannot afford to pay workers on low incomes who lost their pensions when their companies collapsed, it is prepared to pay millions of pounds in tax relief to the rich."

From today residential property can be purchased within a Sipp providing it is bought by a syndicate of at least 10 people. They must not be related and cannot use the properties personally. This means that investors' own buy-to-let properties and holiday homes must be kept outside the plans.

So the very wealthy can easily use SIPPS, subsided by your higher taxes to pay for everything else.

Its hard to believe this is a Labour goverment.

[Ngugi]

From today residential property can be purchased within a Sipp providing it is bought by a syndicate of at least 10 people. They must not be related and cannot use the properties personally. This means that investors' own buy-to-let properties and holiday homes must be kept outside the plans.

So the very wealthy can easily use SIPPS, subsided by your higher taxes to pay for everything else.

How depressing. A few months ago I thought all residential property was excluded from SIPPS - now this! Right now I'm sure that there are accountants out there figuring out a way for a group of private BTLs to be 'registered' as a syndicate, thus getting around what little restriction there is. Even more cash will flow in to pump up BTL bubble.

[delboypass]

so all you need is 2 10man property syndicates.

Each syndicate buys 10 homes.

20 homes in total.

Each member from one syndicate stays in a members of the other syndicates house.

Possible every 1st syndicate tells 2nd syndicate what house to buy.

Very easy loopholes i think

[Goat]

Call me a cynic, but I suspect that the A-day "let the rich stuff loads of money into pensions" is being brought into existence because the government plans to remove pension rights from anyone earning over a specified amount, or who has a private pension, at some point in the future. Hey presto - pension crisis, what pension crisis...?

Kaletsky's article in the Times today points towards this.

The suggestion is that the government can not afford to have both a publicly funded health service and a generous private pension.

As Brown is wedded to the idea of ever rising funding for the NHS, the only way he can fund this is by cutting back on public funding of pensions.

Brown seems (to me) to want to move towards means tested pensions system. The problem with this is that there is then no incentive for most people to save.