Small Self Administered Scheme (SSAS)
One type of pension arrangement that has proved popular in certain situations is a SSAS. A SSAS is an occupational pension scheme and so is trust based (unlike the majority of SIPPs). They now come under the same overall pension rules as other registered pension schemes, perhaps the main exception to this being in the HMRC treatment of SSASs regards residential property.
The popularity of SSASs historically is because of the investment powers and greater control they conferred on the members. As a consequence, HMRC imposed tighter control on their operation than on other types of scheme. One consequence of the new regimes imposed by the tax simplification measures, operative since 6 April 2006, has been the removal of most if not all of the special features of SSASs.
For a scheme to qualify as a SSAS there must be fewer than 12 members currently building up pension benefits, at least one of whom must be a controlling director, or have been in the last 10 years, or be closely related to:
- another member of the scheme; or
- a trustee of the scheme; or
- a partner (if the sponsoring company is a partnership); or
- a person who is, or at any time has been in the last 10 years, a controlling director (if the sponsoring employer is a company).
Another requirement for a scheme to qualify as a SSAS is that all the assets must not be invested only in insurance policies.
[Note: a controlling director is defined as a director of a company who owns or controls, either in his or her own right or with one or more associates, 20% or more of the ordinary share capital of a company].
In the sections below you will information about the following SSAS related topics:
