The appellant pension scheme administrator’s appeal against HMRC’s decision to refuse to discharge its liability to scheme sanction charges was allowed, as the appellant reasonably believed that no unauthorised payment was being made, and it would not be just and reasonable for it to be liable to the charges.
The appellant unwittingly became party to a complex ‘pension liberation scheme’ involving a self-invested personal pension scheme (SIPP), which was operated by the appellant in its capacity as scheme administrator.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) considered that the SIPP held investments which had been used to enable members of the SIPP to access their pension funds (in the form of obtaining loans) before the age (55 years) at which pension scheme members were permitted to obtain benefits from their pensions, and that attempts had been made to access pension funds in this way in a manner aimed at
