Changes to pension tax relief: George Osborne drops plans to cut tax relief

Plans have lost to remove or alter the system of tax relief.

An Isa-fashion scheme could have stopped tax relief on contributions for those in work but made pension pot withdrawals tax free.

An other choice was to establish a flat rate of tax aid, which could have not been popular.

Pensions minister Baroness Altmann made clear her opposition before this week, saying that making pension withdrawals tax would create new hazards.

“The independence and pick reforms have set us in an area where is people’s pensions could function nicely for them,” she told the Financial Times.

“However, tax is a natural brake on them spending their pension fund too soon… We may decide that the current system is best.”

Conservative MPs had also become concerned about the effect on their parts of any move to flat rate aid, which may have reduced breaks for higher rate taxpayers.