Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20Pensions and Small Business – Ticking Time Bomb or Hidden Treasure? | 18 Small business and pensions – our message to ministers Stop tinkering with the pension rules, uncertainty is bad for long term planning. Don’t treat pension transactions/pension freedoms as a cash cow. Business owners need to understand that they don’t have to pay HMRC 40% of their withdrawals if they are funding their own business, not buying a Lamborghini! SME owners have a different relationship to their pensions and risk than ordinary employees. HM Revenue & Customs must recognise this. Penalising success by imposing a £1 million lifetime allowance and a £40,000 annual allowance, decreasing to £10,000 for a higher earner, makes pensions an irrelevance for many successful entrepreneurs. Removing the attractiveness of this sort of saving makes high earners far more likely to arrange their affairs in a way that less tax is paid in the long run. The pensions industry serving the SME community can do a vast amount more to improve access to finance for small business and therefore generate jobs and taxes. This needs to be recognised and encouraged at ministerial level.