Annuities
(asked on 23rd March 2015) - View Source
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate the Government has made of the additional cost to the public purse arising from additional (a) social security payments and (b) social care costs of people in receipt of annuity income reassigning that income to a third party in order to receive the value of that annuity as a lump sum.
From April 2016, the government will change the tax rules to allow people who are already receiving income from an annuity to assign that income to a third party, subject to agreement from their annuity provider. The proceeds of the assignment could then be taken directly or drawn down over a number of years, and would be taxed at their marginal rate, in the same way as those taking their pension after April 2015.
Details of how the costs of this measure have been calculated including the number of annuities that could be assigned can be found in the Budget 2015 Policy Costings document here: