The Conservative manifesto promised to tackle issues around NHS doctors facing large tax bills and some low paid workers missing out on pension tax breaks.

With a Conservative Prime Minister now in command of a large parliamentary majority, this paper looks at what options the government has to reform pension tax relief and what avenues they might explore in the upcoming Budget and beyond.

Key findings include:

• Introducing a single ‘flat rate’ of pension tax relief would be a highly complex reform which would require consultation on the details and could not be implemented quickly. 
• If the March 2020 Budget floated major cuts to tax relief to be implemented in future years, this could lead to people seeking to ‘max out’ on pension saving ahead of any change.
• The new Chancellor has a variety of options for delivering on the manifesto pledge to tackle issues around higher earners and limits on pension tax relief, in particular the tapered annual allowance.

To read our post Budget analysis, see our special Budget Bulletin and blog on the Annual Allowance changes that were announced.