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HMRC is urging employers and individuals who have set up their own pension scheme to check who their pension scheme administrator is, and make sure they are aware of their responsibilities.

Anyone who has set up their own scheme using an insurance company, bank or other provider, needs to be aware that the provider may not be the legal scheme administrator - it could be the employer or the individual who set up the scheme.

All pension schemes must have at least one scheme administrator, and they have certain legal responsibilities.

The scheme administrator is responsible for fulfilling several different functions, including:

• registering the pension scheme with HMRC;
• operating tax relief on contributions under the relief at source system;
• reporting events relating to the scheme and the Scheme Administrator to HMRC;
• making returns of information to HMRC;
• providing information to scheme members, and others, regarding the lifetime allowance, benefits and transfers; and
• paying certain tax charges.

Under the new simplified pensions tax regime, introduced in April 2006, there are three new reports and returns that the scheme administrator of a registered pension scheme is responsible for submitting to HMRC: the Accounting for Tax Return;  the Event Report; and the Pension Schemes Return.

The Accounting for Tax Return is a quarterly tax return, and only needs  to be submitted where certain tax charges have been deducted by the scheme during that quarter.

The Event Report is an  annual report that only needs to be submitted by 31 January if certain events - that are set out in the Registered Pension  Scheme (Provision of Information) Regulations - have occurred during a tax year.

The Pension Scheme Return is an annual  return that only needs to be submitted by 31 January by scheme administrators if they receive a notice to file this return  from HMRC.

For those in doubt, HMRC suggests they contact their scheme provider directly in the first instance. If further help is  needed, the HMRC website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes may provide assistance. Finally, if that doesn't answer questions, contact HMRC's Pensions Helpline on 0115 974 1600.

HMRC produce a short fact sheet on the role of the scheme administrator, which is available at 
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes/scheme-administrator-facts.pdf.

Link

HMRC: Pension Administration - It could be you