Tag: pension cracking

  • HMRC Protected Assessment

    HMRC Protected Assessment

    Protected assessment: this is what thousands of pension liberation scam victims are receiving:

     

     

    Pension Schemes Services

    Fitz Roy House
    Castle Meadow Road
    Nottingham
    NG2 1BD

    PHONE 03000 564567

    WEB www.gov.uk

    Date 02 March 2016

    Our Ref: UTR 99999 00000/XX/YYY – Ark

    Dear Mr. J D

    ARK PENSION RECIPROCATION SCHEMES

    TAX LIABILITY  – year ended 5 April 2012

    During the year 2011/12 you were a member  of The Tallton Place ARK Pension Scheme and according  to the information I hold, an Unauthorised Payment (liberation/loan)  was made either to you or in respect of you. I am currently liaising with the Trustees of the Pension Scheme and a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) have been prepared to help you understand the complex tax consequences and HMRC’s view. A copy of the FAQs is attached.

    Following a change in legislation brought about by Schedule 39 Finance Act 2008 in relation to HRMC time limits for the issue of assessments and determinations, HMRC has issued an assessment in order to protect its position and ensure that any potential tax due for the year ended 5 April 2011 is not lost.

    The assessment is based  on the higher of the amount of MPVA loan you made or received from  your pension scheme. Where you did not receive an MPVA we have based the assessment on the maximum amount of MPVA you coud have made (50% of the value you transferred rounded down to the nearest £2500) HMRC may consider other alternative arguments once their enquiries are complete.

    Amount of unauthorised payment £ 57,500

    Tax Due at 40%                                £23,000

    Tax Due at 15%(surcharge)             £8,625

    Total Tax Due                                     £31,625

    HMRC will continue  with its enquiries in order  to establish the correct amount of tax due for the year ended 5 April 2011 and you should not, therefore, consider the assessment to signify the closure of HMRC’s enquiries.

    If you have not already provided information to HMRC, please let me have the following information as soon as possible:

    • A copy of the signed Maximisining Pension Value Arrangements (MPVA) Agreement relating to the sum received by you under Agreement relating to the sum received by you under the Agreement (the MPV Amount)
    • A copy of your bank or building society statement showing the payment of the MPV Amount into your account
    • Copies of all documents and correspondence held by you relating to the MPVA arrangements entered into by you.
    • Details of how you were introduced to the MPVA arrangements
    • Details of the persons you dealt  with concerning the MPVA arrangements.
    • An explanation as to why the unauthorised payment (the MPV Amount) was not  declared in you 2012 Tax Return

    You have the right to appeal against this assessment and, considering the circumstances, HMRC would not  object to a postponement application of 100% of the tax due on the assessment until such time as our enquiries are finalised. Full details of how  an appeal and postponement of tax can be  made are enclosed.

    I would also like to tell you  that you may want to consider making an application for discharge of the unauthorised payments surcharge under Section 268 Finance Act 2004 if you think that you meet the ground set out in Section 268(3) Finance Act 2004. If you do want to make an application, this should be sent to me at the address shown above and you  will need to set down the reasons why you meet the conditionset out in the legislation.

    If you contact us,  we can deal with you more quickly if you quote the reference number  and provide a daytime telephone number.  If you prefer you can email us at pension.compliance@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk. Please remember to include ARK in the subject line of your email.

    A copy of this lette plus enclosures have been sent to your agent Angela Brooks.

    Yours Sincerely

    XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX

    Compliance Officer

    To find out what you can expect from us and what we expect from you go to www.gov.uk/hmrc/your-charter and have a look at ‘Your Charter’.

    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

     

     

    Pension Schemes Services

    Fitz Roy House
    Castle Meadow Road
    Nottingham
    NG2 1BD

    PHONE 03000 564567

    WEB www.gov.uk

    Angela Brooks ARK Class Action
    24 Calle Cuatro Esquinas
    Lanjaron 18420
    Granada
    Spain

    Date 02 April 2016

    Our Ref: UTR 99999 00000/XX/YYY – Ark

    Dear Ms. Brooks

    Mr. J.D

    NOTICE OF ASSESSMENT

    I enclose a copy of the notice of assessment that I have sent to your client today. If you have any questions, please phone me on 03000 564234

    Yours Sincerely

    XXXXX XXXXXXX

    Compliance Officer

    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    NOTICE OF ASSESSMENT

    Mr. J.D
    23 Foggy Dew Rd
    Gloustershire
    XXX YYY

    Pension Schemes Services
    Fitz Roy House
    Castle Meadow Road
    Nottingham
    NG2 1BD

    PHONE 03000 564567

    WEB www.gov.uk

    Issuing Officers Name: XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

    Reference: UTR 99999 00000/XX/YYY – Ark

    Date: 02 April 2016

    NOTICE OF ASSESSMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 05 April 2012

    Amount charged by this assessment: £31, 999.00

    I am sending this assessment to you because  we have found that there  is additional tax dur that  was not previously shown on your tax return. It is now too late for us to amend  your tax return so this assessment allows us to collect the additional tax. We have made this assessment under Section 29 of the Taxes Management Act 1970.

    I enclose a copy of my calculation of the amount  charged by this assessment. I have also included this amount on your Self Assessment statement, a copy  of which is enclosed.

    About your adviser

    I have sent a copy of this notice to your adviser, Angela Brooks, Ark Class Action.

    Paying what is due.

    Please pay £34, 630.01 no later than 4 May 2015.  This is the amount due for assessment. Please refer to your Self Assessment statement  for details of the interest included in this amount, as well as details of any other items that you have not yet paid. Please also pay any other amounts that are due.

    We have charged you late payment interest for the amount charged by this assessment. We will add more interest on a daily basis until you have paid all the tax due that is due, so we recommend that you pay straightaway.

    If you do not pay all the tax that is due as a result of this assessment within 30 days of the date it should be paid, we will charge you late payment penalties. A late payment penalty is an additional amount of money that you will have to pay as well as the tax that is due. If your payment is:

    • 30 days late, we will charge you an initial penalty – this will be an amount  equal to 5% of the tax you owe at that date
    • 6 months late, we will charge you a further penalty – this will be an amount to 5% of the tax that you owe at that date
    • 12 months late, we will charge you a  second further penalty – this will be an amount equal to 5% of the the tax that you owe at that date.

    Interest we charge for paying tax late

    We will charge you interest on any tax and/or penalties that you pay late. We will charge it from the date that the payment should have been made, until the date that it is paid. Any interest charges are shown your on your Self Assessment statement.

    We will charge you interest from 31 January 2013 until the date  it is paid. If you should have made Self Assessement payments on account by 31 January 2012 and 31 July 2012, we will charge you interest on what you should paid from those dates.

    Changes  to the Self Assessment tax that you are due to pay for one year, may affect the payments on account that you are due to make for later years.

    How to pay

    We recommend  that you pay us electronically. You can find more details on out website. Go to www.hmrc.gov.uk/payinghmrc/index.htm

    If you need to pay by post, please send a cheque to:

    HM Revenue & Customs

    Accounts Office Shipley

    BRADFORD

    BD98 1YY

    Please make your checque payable to ‘HM Revenue & Customs’ followed by the reference ‘UTR99999 00000’.

    If you think you may have problems paying, you can find help on out website. Go to www.hmrc.gov.uk/payinghmrc/problems/cantpay.htm or you can phone our payment helpline on 0300 200 3822

    What to do if you disagree

    If you disagree with the assessment, you can appeal. To do this, you need to write to us within 30 days of the date on this assessment, telling us why you think our desicion is wrong. We will then contact you to try to settle the matter. If we cannot come to an agreement, we will write to you and tell you why. You can then either:

    • have the matter reviewed by an HMRC officer who has  not previously been involved in the case
    • ask an independent tribunal to decide the matter.

    If you choose a review, you can still fo to the tribunal  if you are not satisfied with the outcome.

    If you appeal, you can ask for the payment of all or part  of the tax in dispute to be postponed until the matter is resolved.

    If you want to apply for a postponement, please tell us the amount of tax that you think you are being overcharged and the reasons why you  think you should not have to pay this. We will continue to charge interest on any tax that we postpone. Once the dispute is settled, the interest will be payable if tax is found to be due.

    You can find more information about your appeal and review rights in factsheet HMRC1 ‘HM Reveneue & Customs decisions – what to do if you disagree’. You can get this fact sheet from our website. Go to www.hmrc.gov.uk/factsheets/hmrc1.pdf or you can phone our  orderline on 0300 200 3610.

  • 3 Watchwords used by Pension Scammers

    3 Watchwords used by Pension Scammers

    3 Watchwords used by Pension Scammers

    VISIT PENSION-LIFE.COM

    Pension Scammers

    ACA Pension Life Chairman Angie Brooks was recently quoted as revealing the top words used by pension scammers:FT_Adviser copyProfessional Pensions on ScamsProfessional_Adviser copyYour Money

       

  • CAPITA OAK UPDATE AND INFORMATION REQUIRED

    CAPITA OAK UPDATE AND INFORMATION REQUIRED

    Capita Oak Pension Scam

    For the benefit of all 300 odd members of Capita Oak, here is an email that was sent today to Downs & Co, the accountants acting on behalf of Christopher Payne, the director of the trustees Imperial. This email has been circulated to many Capita Oak members and other interested parties such as the police and the BBC who are preparing a documentary on the subject.

    Hopefully it will not be too late to blow the whistle on this situation and rescue the members’ funds: https://pension-life.com/#!whistle/c13e7

    Admittedly, the contents of this email raises more questions than it answers, but it does at least go some way to establishing how many members there are, how much in total was transferred and who the various parties were who received money from the transfers. What it does not yet establish is what the 10.14 million paid to Metis Law is now actually worth and how (or if) it can be recovered.
    Dear Mr. Downs (info@downsandco.co.uk)

    Referring to our earlier correspondence, will you kindly ask your client Mr. Christopher Payne the following questions:

    1. A total of 10,810,301.57 was transferred in to Capita Oak from approximately 300 members and a total of 10,666,066.14 was paid out. This should leave a balance of 144,235.43 and confirmation is required that this is indeed the amount remaining in cash.

    2. A total of 82,911.31 was paid out in “PCLS” payments and confirmation is required as to what these payments were and who authorised them.

    3. The following “PCLS” payments were made and confirmation is needed as to who these people were and why these payments were made, upon whose authority:

    -5,054.24 J Whyte
    -8,854.53 G Rose
    -21,875.72 W Daniels
    -5,758.99 Mr Clemson
    -5,286.32 Mr. Charlesworth
    -17,231.51 Pamela Holt
    -18,850.00 A Levitt

    4. A total of 441,751.85 was paid to TKE Admin (of which Mr. Payne was a director). This was paid to TKE on 27 different dates between 12.11.2012 and 5.7.2013. Please explain what these payments were for and who authorised them.

    5. Premier Pension Transfers were apparently handling the transfers but there is no record of any payment to them for their services. How were they remunerated and why were two administration companies involved and who appointed them?

    6. A total of 10,140,598.27 was remitted to Metis Law between 11.20.2012 and 7.5.2013. Confirmation is required that Capita Oak now holds 10,140,598.27 worth of assets and exactly what income these assets are supposed to generate and whether they are unencumbered. Further we need evidence of title to these assets and a full explanation as to who authorised 100% of Capita Oak’s assets to be placed in illiquid property with very little liquidity remaining for transfers out.
    7. An explanation as to how and by whom the Thurlestone “loans” were transacted, administered and recorded.

    There will of course be numerous further questions which your client Mr. Payne will be required to answer, including why he has not contacted me or answered my calls. As I am sure you appreciate, as former and current director of Imperial Trustees, Mr. Payne is liable for any risks to Capita Oak and responsible for the members’ interests, investments and any non-compliant transactions linked to the pension, such as the Thurlestone loans of 5% of the value of the transfers.
    In the case of Ark, professional independent trustees were appointed by the Pensions Regulator and the majority of the assets were eventually recovered. However, this is not the case for the Capita Oak victims – who are extremely distressed – and therefore we are all relying on the full cooperation and disclosure by you and your client Mr. Payne.

    Your early response will be much appreciated. As I am sure you will be fully aware, this situation is being closely monitored by the police and the BBC, as well as the members and if you or your client Mr. Payne are unable to answer any of the above questions you must refer me to any other connected party who is in a position to do so. You will see that this email is copied to the Police, Store First and Metis Law.

    Regards, Angela Brooks – Chairman, Ark Class Action

  • ARK PENSION DISASTER – THE TIMES ARTICLE

    The Times – good quality journalism reporting poor quality financial advice

    Ark Pension Disaster – The Times Article – Mark Atherton Uncovers Pension Liberation Scam

    Money

    Pension scam leaves victims in debt

    Angie Brooks is leading a campaign to secure justice for victims of a pensions “liberation” scam                                                  Pic: Richard Pohle

    Mark Atherton

    Last updated at 12:01 AM, September 13 2014

    Thousands of people have lost more than £500 million of their savings after being duped into taking part in unauthorised “pension liberation” scams. Experts say that the true figure runs into billions because many cases go unreported.

    They also warn that next year’s relaxation of the rules governing how you can take your pension cash will provide a fertile breeding ground for fresh scams as fraudsters queue up to exploit the uncertainty around the new pensions regime.

    Some of today’s victims fear they have lost their entire pension savings, while others say they have been driven to the brink of suicide.

    The lure of pensions “liberation”

    Savers were originally lured into transferring their pension pots by the promise of getting their hands on their retirement cash before the age of 55. However, many succeeded in “unlocking” only half of their pension pot, with the rest going partly into uncertain property investments, partly into cash and partly to the scheme’s promoters through hefty fees.

    Savers were told that these schemes were legitimate but that was not true. Now many of the victims are facing financial ruin as they are being told to hand back the money they “liberated”, while Revenue & Customs is poised to slap on a tax penalty of 55 percent of the “unlocked” cash. In many cases, they simply do not have the money to pay.

    The Ark schemes

    Among the biggest “liberation” schemes were those created by Ark, a pensions consultant. These were marketed by financial advisers and so-called “introducers” in the UK and Spain. One of the main players was Stephen Ward, of Premier Pension Solutions (PPS), a Spanish-based company.

    Angie Brooks, below, a former tax barrister, who is leading the class action on behalf of the Ark victims, says: “Mr Ward assured Ark applicants that it was lawful and tax-free and was approved by the Revenue and the pensions regulator. The Revenue registered the six Ark occupational pension schemes without checking for compliance. So did the pensions regulator. This understandably gave the Ark members the reasonable illusion that the schemes were lawful and approved by the UK government.”

    The registration procedures have now been changed. She says that between September 2010 and May 2011, £25 million was transferred from personal and occupational pension plans into Ark schemes, for fees of up to 10 percent of the value of the transferred pot. More was transferred after this, bringing the total to £27 million.

    PPS teamed up with AES International, a firm regulated in the UK, which gave PPS a tied agent agreement to operate in Spain under its regulation (though this did not authorise PPS to carry out pension transfers). PPS carried out at least 160 Ark pension transfers, totalling £10.7 million, with Ark taking a 5 percent cut of each transfer, PPS pocketing a further 3 per cent, as well as a slice of the Ark money, and AES receiving a 12.5 percent slice of PPS’s cut.

    The schemes “unlocked” money by arranging for members to make reciprocal loans, worth about half the value of their pension pot, to each other. Many believed they would not have to repay these loans, known as Maximising Pension Value Arrangements (MPVA). The remaining half of their pension pots, after deduction of hefty charges, was partly held in cash and partly used to buy plots of land or timeshares.

    Alarm bells started to ring in December 2010 when the Revenue expressed “concerns” over the lawfulness of the schemes, though it was not until May that they were suspended and a trustee — Dalriada — appointed. It embarked on litigation that resulted in the Ark schemes being declared invalid and the reciprocal loans judged to be “unauthorised payments” in the High Court in December 2011.

    The cost to Ark victims

    The judge’s ruling delivered a twofold blow to Ark members. First, Dalriada was enabled to demand back the money they had received as loans under the schemes. Second, since the loans were “unauthorised payments” the Revenue was entitled to levy a penalty charge of 55 per cent on these sums. The Revenue has not decided whether to tax the donors or recipients.

    Dalriada has managed to recover more than £6 million of the £7 million which Ark spent on property investments. Sean Browes, of Dalriada, adds that it also has £9 million of Ark money in a bank account and is seeking to unscramble the £10 million of reciprocal loans. However, this has come at the cost of £800,000 in Dalriada’s fees and £1.9 million in legal costs.

    According to Ms Brooks, Mr Ward has, since the suspension of Ark, been linked to pension liberation schemes which have attracted hundreds of fresh customers — something he denies.

    He says: “PPS provided information regarding the Ark schemes in good faith based on the information and opinions provided by Ark and our own independent research. We included statements that independent financial advice should be sought and a number of people who did take advice found the experts they consulted agreed with our understanding of the position. We believe the damage has been caused primarily by the Revenue’s failure to take action when it first became aware of the schemes and by Dalriada’s fees.”

    Sam Instone, the head of AES International, says: “We had nothing to do with the Ark scheme and we earned a negligible amount from our tied agency with PPS. We have no legal responsibility for what has occurred here.”

    Craig Tweedley, who created the Ark schemes, says: “We took extensive advice about the validity of these schemes before launch. We were concerned when we learned that some introducers were claiming that the MPVA loans did not have to be repaid when a key part of our scheme was that they should.”

    Dalriada says: “The Ark schemes were very unusual and have taken some time and, unfortunately, money to unravel. The members of these schemes have been scammed.”

    Anyone with information about these pensions “liberation” schemes is invited to contact mark.atherton@ thetimes.co.uk

    Be on your guard against scams

    • Ahead of next year’s changes to the rules, one aspect of which means those aged 55 or over can take money from their pension, the scammers are gearing up to part you from your cash. Be on your guard
    • If someone promises to help you take money from your pension pot before the age of 55 it is almost certainly a scam: you could lose the lot
    • Even if you are over 55, do not deal with anyone targeting you by phone, text message or approaching you in person. Beware the words: ‘free pension review’
    • Do not deal with anyone who is not registered with the Financial Conduct Authority for pension transfers

  • Ark, Evergreen Retirement Trust QROPS and Marazion Timeline

    Note similarity between the Marazion and Perpetual logos!

    ARK DISASTER – MARAZION/EVERGREEN PENSION LOAN SCHEMES:

    TIME-LINE

    ARK CLASS ACTION

    An Ark victim has suggested it would be a good idea to do a full update so everybody knows the entire story so far.  I agree that’s a good idea so here is a brief outline of where we are and how we got here.  If anyone has any questions or wants further information the Ark Class Action can be contacted on arkmarazion@gmail.com.

    2010: a group of investors got together and purchased a plot of land in Larnaca, Cyprus for 1 million pounds.  With the intention to try to turn it into a golf course.  Only they needed more land and more money.  So they consulted a group of “experts” who came up with the idea of attracting investment by starting a pension scheme.  Now, pensions are supposed to be LOW RISK. And diverse. Speculative land development projects are NOT a good idea for a pension (due to being high risk).  Financial advisers are supposed to know this and are not supposed to advise their clients to put their hard-earned pensions into a scheme based on a potentially worthless piece of land.

    OFFICIAL TIME-LINE 2010: Ark was formed by a group of “experts” and the worthless piece of land originally bought for 1 million was sold to Ark for 4 million.

    August 2010: Ark’s “Master Pension Schemes” (MPS’s) were aggressively promoted and sold by a clutch of financial advisers in Spain and the UK using pension liberation (also known as pension cracking or unlocking) in a scheme described by the promoters as “not traditionally available” (in other words unlawful). This “unique” process was called Maximising Pension Value Arrangements (MPVA) and facilitated a loan to the participant of up to 50% of the value of the transferred pension (after deduction of fees which ranged from between 5% and 15%).

    2010 to 2011: The Ark schemes began advertising and were sold through newspaper ads, websites, calls from financial advisers, seminars and advertisements posted on toilet doors.

    May 2011: The Pensions Regulator were actively shutting down pension liberation scams such as Ark and placed the six Ark schemes in the hands of Dalriada Trustees and the whole lot was suspended. The Regulator was actively promoting its “Scorpion” campaign to warn people about the dangers of pension liberation fraud. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes/investments-tax.htm. HMRC also set up “Project Bloom” to help stop these scams due to the fact that the victims stood to lose their pensions AND get 55% plus tax bills on their pension loans. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes/liberationud.pdf

    December 15th 2011: Justice Bean ruled in the High Court that the Ark schemes (MPS’s and MPVA’s i.e. pension transfers and reciprocal loans) were a “fraud on the power of investment” and that the loans constituted “unauthorised payments” (i.e. taxable at 55%). The ruling can be read here – note Clause 57: http://www.professionalpensions.com/digital_assets/3826/4568_001.pdf

    December 1st 2011: Evergreen Pension Scheme was established in New Zealand

    December 20th 2011: Marazion was incorporated in Nicosia, Cyprus.

    June 2012 Evergreen Pension Scheme commenced trading – making a loss in the first year and attracting 426 members

    August 2012 Marazion started selling five-year term loans and corresponding five-year “lock ins” to Evergreen pension transfers

    19th November 2012 HMRC suspended Evergreen from their QROPS list http://www.evergreentrust.co.nz/uk-pension-transfers/

    December 2012 Dalriada published the first year’s audited accounts (for the period May 2011 to May 2012) for the six MPS’s: Cranbourne Star, Tallton Place, Grosvenor, Lancaster, Portman and Woodcroft Dalriada’s audited accounts for the six Ark schemes for the first two years can be found here: http://dalriadatrustees.co.uk/ark/

    September 2013: The Ark Class Action was set up to help inform the Ark victims and negotiate and appeal their tax liabilities so that these (together with their pension losses) can be reclaimed from the negligent financial advisers who sold the Ark schemes to the victims .

    March 2014: HMRC finally agreed to confirm their full intentions regarding taxing the Ark loans.

    April 2014: HMRC finally confirmed their intention to try to tax the loans at both ends i.e. 55% at the receiving end AND 55% at the making end.  They also confirmed that Ark members who did not receive a loan would still be taxed at 55% for making a loan or intending to make a loan, and/or intending to receive a loan.

    Between 2012 and 2014 (to date), some Ark members have received demands by HMRC to complete Self Assessment returns declaring the Ark unauthorized payments for tax purposes; some members have received demands for the tax; some have received nothing at all, but HMRC have confirmed that the letters and demands are now on their way.  However, there really has been no consistency in their approach to the whole Ark matter, but they do now appear to be getting their act together.

    June 2014: Evidence regarding the Marazion/Evergreen pension liberation fraud was handed to the British authorities in London.

    June 2014: HMRC has issued a deadline of 30th of June for return of the 10 point questionnaire required in respect of the Ark loans.

    Any questions, just ask.  Angela Brooks

    [contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]