Autumn 2006 Newsletter Contents Into The Unknown Season Of Goodwill Farewell Andre Toon Done Doon Day Of Reckoning Artistic Licence Gizmos Again A Free Lunch Sweet As Nectar Security Concerns Going For A Spin The Cap Does Not Fit While It's Hot? Code Cracking Bad Connection Broken Trusts You Can't Take It With You Dividend Returns IR35 RIP? Spam Spam Spam Breaking Up Duty Calls Time Shift Moving Vans

You Can't Take It With You but can you leave it behind? A year ago, people were getting excited about the new pension rules coming in on 6 April 2006. Someone had spotted that it appeared to be possible to leave a large pension fund to your heirs without any tax charges - traditionally, a pension fund disappeared when you died, but it seemed possible under the new rules to preserve it and pass it on. Gordon Brown poured cold water on that in the Budget. It will be possible to keep the fund alive after you have gone if you take an "alternatively secured pension" rather than buying an annuity - in effect, the pot of money remains identifiable after you have started to draw your pension. It will then be possible in some circumstances to pass the benefit of that on to your family. However, there will be an IHT charge when the property is passed on - the idea that you could wrap up your estate in a tax-proof wrapper and hand it on was just too good to be true. We are getting used to the new rules on pensions which have now been with us since April. For the great majority of people, there will have been little obvious difference so far. For people with very large pension funds there will be big differences in the future. Tax reliefs for pensions are still very attractive, although some of the best ideas of a year ago have been ruled out. If you want to make sure that your pension arrangements are up to scratch, we will be happy to discuss them with you.