{"id":1052,"date":"2010-11-04T17:02:43","date_gmt":"2010-11-04T16:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/esmartproducts.co.uk\/?p=1052"},"modified":"2010-11-04T17:02:43","modified_gmt":"2010-11-04T16:02:43","slug":"income-drawdown-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.suretyfp.com\/wordpress\/?p=1052","title":{"rendered":"Income Drawdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Your questions answered<\/h3>\n<p>These are some of the most commonly asked questions we receive from clients.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: What is Income Drawdown?<br \/>\nA: <\/strong>Income Drawdown is an alternative to an annuity. It  allows you to draw an income directly from your pension while the fund  remains invested. One of the main features of Income Drawdown is that  you keep control of your investments and choose the level of income you  draw (within limits).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: What age must I be to consider Income Drawdown?<br \/>\nA: <\/strong>Income Drawdown allows an individual aged between 55  and 75 (with transitional rules in place from 22 April 2010\u00a0to the 5 of  April 2011\u00a0increasing the age to 77) to defer the purchase of their  pension from an insurance company. An income is drawn from the fund, and  the residual fund remains invested. The maximum income that may be  drawn is 120 per cent of the pension that could have been purchased  calculated using Government Actuary rates. There is no minimum. Either  an annuity or Alternatively Secured Pension\u00a0(ASP) must be selected\u00a0at  age 75.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: In the event I die before the age of 75, what happens?<br \/>\nA:<\/strong> A surviving spouse or dependant currently has three options:<\/p>\n<p>receive some or the entire remaining fund as a lump sum subject to a 35 per cent tax charge<\/p>\n<p>continue with Income Drawdown if under age 75, or an ASP if over age 75<\/p>\n<p>use to fund the purchase of an annuity<\/p>\n<p>Depending on the scheme rules\/policy terms, a dependant\u2019s pension may be deferred until a later date.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Can I continue to manage my own pension fund?<br \/>\nA: <\/strong>Yes, you can continue to manage and control your  pension fund and make all the investment decisions. Providing the fund  is not depleted by excessive income withdrawals or poor investment  performance, it may also be possible to increase your income later in  life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: How much income can I take from an Income Drawdown arrangement?<br \/>\nA: <\/strong>The income that can be taken from an Income Drawdown  arrangement can be varied each year between a minimum and a maximum.  The minimum is \u00a30 and the maximum is 120 per cent of a pension,  calculated according to tables produced by the Government Actuaries  Department (GAD).<\/p>\n<p>These tables are based on the amount your fund would buy as an  annuity based on your life only and with no allowance for any future  increase. The maximum amount needs to be recalculated every five years.  After each review you will be advised of the new annual GAD limit, which  could be lower or higher than the limit from the previous five years.<\/p>\n<p>The maximum income you can draw can be more than the income  from a level; single life annuity bought using the same fund. The  maximum is calculated at the start of your drawdown plan, using GAD  tables that use your age and 15-year gilt yields to calculate the income  available from your fund. The income limits calculated at this point  are fixed until the next review, although you should review any income  you take more frequently.<\/p>\n<p>As long as you stay within the maximum limit, you can control  how much income you take and when you take it. You always need to be  aware of the risk that your income withdrawal can deplete your capital.  This reduces the capacity for income in the future.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: What happens if I add more money into my drawdown account?<br \/>\nA:<\/strong> A review will be triggered if you add more money  into your drawdown account from your main pension fund or if you take  money out to buy an annuity. Each year you may request that a review  takes place on the plan anniversary. This will restart the five-year  period. In some cases, funds may also have to be moved out as a result  of a divorce court order and this will also trigger a review. You decide  how much of your pension you want to move into your drawdown account.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: How much can I take as a tax-free lump sum?<br \/>\nA: <\/strong>You can normally take up to 25 per cent of this as a  tax-free lump sum and draw a regular income from the rest. There is no  minimum withdrawal amount, so you could choose zero income if you wish.  Any income is subject to tax at source, on a Pay As You Earn (PAYE)  basis. You decide where the remainder of the fund is invested and you  should review and monitor the situation regularly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Can I use my income drawdown fund to buy a lifetime annuity?<br \/>\nA: <\/strong>Yes, you can use your income drawdown fund to  purchase a lifetime annuity. If you want to continue drawing an income  directly from the fund when you reach your 75th birthday, currently it  can continue into an ASP, although income is restricted and death  benefits are severely limited. The fund is automatically moved to an ASP  if you have not set up an annuity by age 75 \u2013 the government plans to  abolish ASPs from 5 April 2011.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: How could the new retirement rule changes affect me?<br \/>\nA: <\/strong>The government is currently consulting on changes to  the rules on having to take a pension income by age 75. This may be  important to you if you\u2019re coming up to age 75, or if you\u2019re deciding  between an annuity or Income Drawdown. Under the proposals, there will  no longer be a requirement to take pension benefits by a specific age.  Tax-free cash will still normally only be available when the pension  fund is made available to provide an income, either by entering Income  Drawdown or by setting up an annuity. Pension benefits are likely to be  tested against the Lifetime Allowance at age 75.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your questions answered These are some of the most commonly asked questions we receive from clients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suretyfp.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suretyfp.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suretyfp.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suretyfp.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suretyfp.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.suretyfp.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suretyfp.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suretyfp.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suretyfp.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}