According to reports over the weekend, Chancellor George Osborne will drop plans to alter the tax relief rules on pension contributions from his March 16 budget, although many commentators believe the changes are being deferred until after the Euro referendum rather than scrapped completely.<\/p>\n
It had been widely believed that a proposed new scheme would have scrapped upfront relief, worth an estimated \u00a321bn to savers, but made pension pot withdrawals tax-free. An alternative option was to set a flat rate of tax relief, which may have been unpopular with higher earners.<\/p>\n
Tim Norris, Partner at The Financial Planning Group, said of the Chancellor\u2019s deferral; \u201cIt is likely George Osborne will make the changes at some point in the not too distant future\u00a0\u2013\u00a0this delay may prove to be a last chance for high earners to make significant contributions to pensions so it is important to seek professional advice at\u00a0this\u00a0point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n