Guidance

Pension schemes newsletter 121 – June 2020

Published 25 June 2020

1. Temporary changes to pension processes as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19)

a. Re-employment in response to the coronavirus outbreak

As you may be aware, earlier this month we updated Pension schemes newsletter 119 to show that the protected pension age easement has been extended up to 1 November 2020.

b. Relief at source and suspension of the process for applying for a National Insurance number

In Pension Schemes Newsletter 120 we explained that we had suspended the process for applying for a National Insurance number, as a result of coronavirus. We provided guidance on what you should do if your relief at source repayment claims include individuals who have been unable to get a National Insurance number because we’ve suspended the process.

You should continue to follow the guidance in Pension Schemes Newsletter 120 and we’ll update you once the National Insurance number application process has been reinstated in a future newsletter.

c. APSS106 relief at source repayment claims

We understand that it may be difficult for scheme administrators to obtain wet signatures on annual repayment claims from authorised signatories and send these to HMRC. For now, HMRC will accept scanned annual repayments claims:

• emailed by the authorised signatory – in this circumstance we will accept the claim without a signature
• signed and emailed by someone else providing we also receive a separate email directly from the authorised signatory authorising them to submit the claim

You should email these to pensionschemes.reliefatsource@hmrc.gov.uk and put ‘APSS106 – relief at source annual repayment claim’ in the subject line of your email. Please also refer to these provisions in Pension Schemes Newsletter 121 in the body of your email.

Find out more about submitting the APSS106 form.

d. APSS590 relief at source declaration

As with the APSS106, to help scheme administrators having difficulty obtaining wet signatures on APSS590 declarations from authorised signatories, for now HMRC will accept scanned APSS590 declarations:

• emailed by the authorised signatory – in this circumstance we will accept the claim without a signature
• signed and emailed by someone else providing we also receive a separate email directly from the authorised signatory authorising them to submit the claim

You should email these to reliefatsource.administration@hmrc.gov.uk and put ‘APSS590 – relief at source annual return declaration’ in the subject line of your email. Please also refer to these provisions in Pension Schemes Newsletter 121 in the body of your email.

e. Accounting for Tax return submission and payment delays

In Pension schemes newsletter 118 we gave guidance to help scheme administrators facing challenges in submitting and making payments on time for accounting for tax (AFT) returns for the quarter 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020.

We’ve reviewed this guidance and are extending this to cover AFT returns for the quarters:

• 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020 (filing and payment deadline 15 May 2020)
• 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 (filing and payment deadline 14 August 2020)
• 1 July 2020 to 30 September 2020 (filing and payment deadline 14 November 2020)

If you’re unable to submit your AFT returns and make payments by the deadline because your resources are affected by coronavirus and you receive penalties or interest relating to one of these quarters, you can email details to us at pensions.businessdelivery@hmrc.gov.uk and put ‘AFT return – Pension Schemes Newsletter 121’ in the subject line of your email. We’ll cancel any penalties and interest in these circumstances.

f. Extension to the temporary changes to pension processes as a result of coronavirus

As well as the temporary changes covered in the above sub articles, we published guidance in Pension Schemes Newsletters 118, 119 and 120 on other temporary changes to some pension processes to help scheme administrators during the coronavirus pandemic. We provided guidance on:

• rent and loan payment holidays
• APSS105 relief at source repayment claims
• R63N repayment requests for registered pension schemes
• relief at source – excess relief
• AFT return submission and payment delays
• APSS262 – reporting transfers to qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes
• re-employment in response to the coronavirus outbreak
• pension scheme returns for 2019 to 2020
• benefits crystallisation event 1 and valuing sums and assets held within a registered pension scheme
• other scheme valuations
• relief at source and suspension of the process for applying for a National Insurance number
• submitting the APSS107 registered pension schemes annual statistical return without a signature

We’ve reviewed these temporary changes and unless otherwise stated in this newsletter, we’ve decided to extend them until the end of October 2020. We’ll continue to keep you updated on any further changes in future pension schemes newsletters.

2. Managing pension schemes service

a. Delays relating to the AFT return on the managing pension schemes service

In the Managing pension schemes service newsletter – April 2020 we explained that you’d be able to submit your AFT return for the quarter 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 from 1 July 2020. However as a result of work we’ve been doing to include more features on the AFT return (such as the ability to view, amend and search AFT returns), we’ve had to delay making the submit feature available for a short time.

So you’ll now be able to submit this AFT return from 21 July 2020.

If you’ve already compiled and saved your 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 AFT return on the managing pension schemes service ready to submit, you can still access and view this. You’ll be able to submit it when we update the service on 21 July 2020.

As well as the delay to submitting on the service, there will also be a short delay to when you can start to compile and save your AFT return for the next quarter (1 July 2020 to 30 September 2020). You’ll be able to do this from 21 July 2020.

We are sorry for any inconvenience caused by these delays.

We’ll provide more information about the AFT return features that we’re adding to the service, as well as an update on the latest timeline in a managing pension schemes service newsletter next month.

b. Check and update your correspondence address on the managing pension schemes service

For scheme administrators who are registered on the managing pension schemes service, check your correspondence address and if necessary update this on the service, as we’ll send you pension scheme notifications by post.

3. Real time information - cessation of earlier year updates and use of full payment submissions

As you may know, from April 2021 we’re simplifying the process for reporting corrections to previous year payroll data by extending the use of the Real Time Information (RTI) Full Payment Submission (FPS).

From April 2021 the Earlier Year Update (EYU) will no longer be a valid submission to make amendments to the tax year ending 5 April 2021 and you must make any amendments to RTI submissions for this and future tax years using an FPS submission.

We want to remind pension scheme administrators to update your IT systems and processes to accommodate this. You can find more information in Employer Bulletin 77.

You can see which submission method you should use for correcting errors in RTI submissions for different tax years, in the following table.

Tax year	Submission method
Tax Years ending 5 April 2018 and earlier	EYU only
Tax Year ending 5 April 2019 from 20 April 2019	EYU or FPS
Tax Year ending 5 April 2020 from 20 April 2020	EYU or FPS
Tax Year ending 5 April 2021 (and future years) from 20 April 2021	FPS only

The employer payroll submission will not be impacted by this change.

We are not planning any changes to the format of the FPS when it is used after the 19 April following the year end. The FPS you submit will provide an update to the last period reported, with a matching or later pay date for the individual, to indicate a change in the year to date figures.

We’ll update our guidance to reflect how you should correct errors in RTI submissions in future.