An occupational pension scheme that provides benefits based on accrual rate, pensionable service and pensionable salary.

Planning analysis: The government has laid before Parliament the final-form draft regulations, and published the final statutory guidance for local planning authorities (LPAs) in England, on planning committees and the national scheme of delegation of planning functions.

The personal representatives (PRs) are responsible for finalising the deceased's tax affairs. They must file outstanding tax returns and claim any repayments due. For the majority of estates where tax was deducted at source on investments (prior to 6 April 2016) and under PAYE on employment income and pensions, a refund is likely to arise because the deceased is entitled to the personal allowances for the whole tax year, and not just for the portion of the tax year up to the date of death. The tax position of those within the Self Assessment regime will depend on their sources of income, whether they were up to date with tax returns and accounts and the date in the tax year on which death occurred. For information on rates of tax and allowances, see Practice Note: Key UK tax rates, thresholds and allowances for Private Client. PRs should review the deceased's tax position up to the date of death as soon as possible as they will need to include an estimate of any underpayment

Arbitration analysis: This case dealt with an appeal filed by the Republic of India (‘India’) seeking to set aside an order permitting Deutsche Telekom AG (‘Deutsche Telekom’) to enforce a foreign arbitral award rendered against India. The appeal stemmed from proceedings before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (‘PCA’) governed by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (‘UNCITRAL’) Arbitration Rules, 1976 (‘UNCITRAL Rules’) and seated in Geneva, Switzerland, following Deutsche Telekom’s claim for the violation of the Agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of India for the Promotion and Protection of Investments (‘India-Germany BIT’). Following an arbitral award in Deutsche Telekom’s favour, the parties engaged in a series of proceedings for setting aside and subsequent enforcement proceedings. While dealing with India’s appeal, the Singapore Court of Appeal (‘SGCA’) examined the issue of transnational res judicata/issue estoppel to determine whether India would be precluded from re-litigating issues surrounding the validity of the arbitral award, which have previously been raised and have already been decided by the seat court. The decision delves into the question of how an enforcement court ought to treat earlier decisions rendered by the seat court and whether such enforcement court should grant primacy to the seat court’s decision. Answering in the affirmative and dismissing India’s appeal, SGCA held that the seat court’s decision would have a preclusive effect and transnational res judicata/issue estoppel would be applicable. While arriving at this conclusion, the SGCA noted that although the governing Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, 1958 (‘New York Convention’) did not expressly mention transnational res judicata/issue estoppel as a ground for refusing enforcement of an arbitral award, the principle could (and should) be invoked by an enforcement court in order to give effect to a prior decision rendered by the seat court (on the same issues). By settling the question of whether transnational res judicata//issue estoppel applies to international arbitration in Singapore, this decision serves to provide greater certainty to enforcement proceedings brought forth in Singapore under the aegis of the New York Convention and reduces avenues for parties to engage in refractory tactics to avoid the consequences of arbitral awards. Further, the court’s acknowledgement of the ‘primacy principle’ accords due regard to the decisions rendered by the seat court and serves to promote effectiveness as well as efficiency to the arbitration process as a whole, with-(a) parties having greater certainty on the applicability of their chosen governing systems of law; and (b) arbitration proceedings attaining finality expeditiously. Written by Ila Kapoor, partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, New Delhi; Kshipra Pyare & Rachit Bansal, associates at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, New Delhi.

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note contains information on Finance (No 2) Act 2015 (F(No 2)A 2015) which received Royal Assent on 18 November 2015. It is being retained for historic interest as it charts the progress of the legislation through Parliament and provides a description, with relevant links, of each measure in the Act. The Practice Note is split into five parts: • progress of F(No 2)A 2015 • F(No 2)A 2015 Committee stages • published legislation with immediate effect—Summer Budget 2015 • published legislation with subsequent effect, and • measures deferred from Finance Act 2015 For the avoidance of confusion, throughout this Practice Note we will be referring to the finance bill that was originally published on 15 July 2015 as the 'Summer Finance Bill'. Progress of F(No 2)A 2015 This part of the Practice Note shows the progress of F(No 2)A 2015 through Parliament. Date Bill stage Bill version 18 Nov 2015 Royal Assent Finance (No.2) Act 2015 10

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note contains information on Finance (No 2) Act 2017 (F(No 2)A 2017) which received Royal Assent on 16 November 2017. It is being retained for historic interest as it charts the progress of the legislation through Parliament and provides a description, with relevant links, of each measure in the Act. F(No 2)A 2017 was published on 8 September 2017. It contains provisions that were dropped from the first Finance Bill 2017 (that was published on 20 March 2017 and became the Finance Act 2017 on 27 April 2017) following the announcement of the 2017 general election. For more information on the background to F(No 2)A 2017, see News Analyses: Government withdraws majority of Finance Bill 2017, Amended provisions for second Finance Bill of 2017 and Publication of second Finance Bill 2017. There is no universally used nomenclature for the legislation when it was a Bill, but it was variously referred to as Autumn Finance Bill 2017, September Finance

Finance (No 2) Bill was published on 13 March 2024.

The Finance (No. 2) Bill 2026 received Royal Assent as the Finance Act 2026 on 18 March 2026.

In the House of Commons Public Bill Committee’s Third Sitting on the Finance (No. 2) Bill on 29 January 2026, the Committee considered clause 57, which relates to collective money purchase schemes, described in the debate as collective defined contribution (CDC) schemes. The Opposition raised concerns about the scope of the powers conferred on HMRC, the use of secondary legislation, the treatment of scheme members and trustee decision-making, and coordination with the Pensions Regulator (TPR). The government explained that the clause was intended to align HMRC’s tax-registration process with TPR’s Regulator’s authorisation and supervision regime, including in the context of the forthcoming extension of CDC schemes to unconnected multiple employers. Clause 57 was agreed to without amendment.

In the House of Commons, the Committee of the Whole House (Committee) has approved the government’s proposals to bring most unused pension funds and pension death benefits within the scope of inheritance tax (IHT), following detailed line-by-line scrutiny of clauses 63 to 68 of the Finance (No. 2) Bill on 13 January 2026. The Committee had considered a series of non-government new clauses focused exclusively on pensions which would have required post-implementation reviews of the reforms with publication of findings to Parliament, further consultation on potential impacts of the changes, ministerial statements on the impact on pension saving and household behaviour, reports on the position of personal representatives, a review of delays in paying inherited pension benefits, and early publication of detailed HMRC guidance supported by a dedicated helpline. All were rejected, with the Committee accepting ministerial assurances that administrative and behavioural risks will be managed through future regulations rather than legislative change in the Bill.

Annual allowance The annual allowance is the maximum amount by which the value of an individual’s pension savings across all the registered pension schemes of which they are a member may increase in any year without tax penalties arising. Employer contributions also count towards the annual allowance. Annual allowance figures are shown in the table below. The annual allowance charge is levied where the annual allowance is exceeded. For further information generally, see Practice Note: The annual allowance. Tax year Annual allowance (£) Source 2023/24 onwards £60,000, subject to:—tapering for individuals with an ‘adjusted income’ in excess of £260,000 p.a. and a ‘threshold income’ in excess of £200,000 p.a. Tapering will be a reduction of £1 for every £2 by which their income exceeds £260,000, subject to a maximum reduction of £50,000 for those with an adjusted income of £360,000 p.a. or more. In other words, the minimum tapered annual allowance is £10,000 (£60,000 – £50,000), and—money purchase annual allowance of £10,000Alternative annual allowance (ie standard annual allowance less money purchase annual allowance): £50,000 Spring

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. 22 March 2006 was the day of the 2006 Budget which, without any warning or consultation, made sweeping changes to the inheritance tax (IHT) treatment of trusts. The date represents a watershed in the IHT treatment of trusts since many of the key changes took immediate effect. The first step in working out the correct IHT treatment of a trust is to look at whether it was made before or after 22 March 2006. Before 22 March 2006, there were three main types of trust for IHT purposes: • relevant property trusts (usually discretionary trusts) • interest in possession (IIP) trusts; and • accumulation and maintenance (A&M) trusts On 22 March 2006, the relevant property regime was extended to nearly all new lifetime trusts, whether in discretionary, IIP or A&M format. Similarly, additions of property to all existing trusts (with the exception of disabled trusts, bare trusts and some premiums paid in respect of life policy trusts) would