PTM025500 - General principles: parties to a pension scheme: authorised practitioner

Glossary PTM000001

Scheme administrators can appoint a practitioner to act on their behalf in connection with the management of the pension scheme. For example, they may appoint:

  • a third party provider of administration services
  • an accountant/auditor
  • a legal adviser, or
  • someone else.

A scheme administrator of a particular registered pension scheme may authorise HMRC to deal with such an appointed practitioner in connection with that scheme. The scheme administrator must give that authorisation via the system on which the particular pension scheme is held:

  • Pension Schemes Online
  • the Managing Pension Schemes service.

Pension scheme details are held on Pension Schemes Online if:

  • the scheme was approved under either Chapter 1 or Chapter 4 Part 14 ICTA 1988 or was a relevant statutory scheme and so automatically became a registered pension scheme on 6 April 2006, or
  • an application to register the pension scheme was made before 4 June 2018, or
  • an annuity contract was notified to HMRC using Pension Schemes Online.

Pension scheme details are held on the Managing Pension Schemes service:

  • if an application to register the pension scheme was made on or after 4 June 2018, or
  • where the details of the pension scheme were first held on Pension Schemes Online but have since moved to the Managing Pension Schemes service as well as continuing to be held on Pension Schemes Online.

The practitioner must be registered with HMRC.

If the scheme’s PSTR starts with ‘20’, the practitioner must register via the Managing Pension Schemes service if the pension scheme they want to act for is held on that same system.

If a practitioner wants to register to act for a scheme held on Pension Schemes Online with a PSTR starting with ‘00’, they will need to contact pensionschemes@hmrc.gov.uk.

Where the details of a pension scheme were first held on Pension Schemes Online but have since moved to the Managing Pension Schemes service as well as continuing to be held on Pension Schemes Online, as described immediately above for the respective systems, the practitioner will need to be registered on both the Managing Pension Schemes service and Pension Schemes Online.

Where a scheme administrator appoints an authorised practitioner:

  • HMRC will correspond with and issue information regarding that scheme to the authorised practitioner (instead of the scheme administrator), and
  • the practitioner can use
    • Pension Schemes Online (if the scheme the practitioner is acting for is held on that service)
    • the Managing Pension Schemes service (if the scheme the practitioner is acting for is held on that service), and
  • will be able to view the same information for the scheme as the scheme administrator can (except for details of other authorised practitioners).

HMRC cannot discuss a scheme administrator’s tax affairs with anyone other than the scheme administrator or their authorised agent.

Further information on authorised practitioners can be found at PTM157000.