SIPP Declarations

Version 2.1, May 2023

General Declarations

I apply to become a member of the Freetrade SIPP registered pension scheme and agree to be bound by the Rules of that Scheme, which may be amended from time to time. A copy of the Rules is available on request.

I confirm that I have been given the opportunity to read, to check my understanding of and to retain copies of the following documents:

Key Features Document

Charges Schedule

Terms and Conditions

Investment Brochure

I agree to be bound by the SIPP Terms, which may be amended from time to time.

I authorise Gaudi Trustees Limited and Platform One Limited to open such accounts as required in order to action my investment instructions and agree to the terms and charges of these accounts.

I confirm that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the information I give in this application process and in any other documents I complete or information I supply relating to this application will be correct and complete.

I understand that death benefits are payable by Gaudi Trustees Limited to my beneficiaries as determined at the discretion of Platform One Limited, who will take into account my Expression of Wishes but cannot be bound by it. I declare that I nominate all individuals named on my Expression of Wishes form, who are not my dependants, as Nominees for the purposes of allowing them to receive death benefits in the form of flexi-access drawdown, if applicable.

I understand that under the SIPP Terms I am only entitled to receive money from my pension plan as an ‘Authorised Payment’. I agree that if an ‘Unauthorised Payment’ is made from my pension plan I will indemnify Platform One Limited for any charges levied by HM Revenue & Customs.

I will not require, nor attempt to require, the withdrawal of funds held to provide benefits for me under the Scheme, other than in accordance with the Rules of the Scheme.

Information Declarations

I understand that the operation of my pension plan relies on Freetrade mobile app communications. I confirm I will maintain the email address I have provided, monitor it regularly and inform Freetrade immediately if I change my email address.

I confirm that the address I have given in the application is my permanent residential address and that I will inform Freetrade of my new address within 30 days should it change. I will also inform Freetrade within 30 days if I change my name.

I confirm that if I have not flexibly accessed any benefits from any other pension arrangements, that if I do flexibly access any pension benefits I will inform Freetrade of the date benefits were flexibly accessed within 91 days. I understand that I would become subject to the Money Purchase Annual Allowance from the date I first flexibly accessed any benefits.

I understand that if I have any Lifetime Allowance protection(s) or enhancements it is my responsibility to provide evidence of the relevant protection(s). I confirm that I will inform Freetrade if I should lose or have revoked any Lifetime Allowance protections or enhancements I may have. I give my authority for my protection details I supply to be checked with HM Revenue & Customs.

I give my permission for my personal data to be processed in accordance with the Privacy Statement contained in the SIPP Terms document and the General Data Protection Regulation.

I agree to the carrying out of checks to establish proof of my identity and residence, and those of a third party or my employer, where contributions are to be paid by either of them. Should these checks prove unsatisfactory, I understand that I will be required to provide proof of identity that is deemed satisfactory before my application can be accepted.

Financial Advice Declarations

I understand that as a financial adviser is not appointed on this pension plan to advise me, I take full responsibility for my decisions and instructions I give, which include but are not limited to:

• Applying for this pension plan.
• How much and when I contribute to the pension plan.
• Determining that any pension transfers paid in are in my best interests, including acceptance of any charges the transferring scheme may make.
• How my Pension Fund is invested, within the investment options available via this pension plan.
• When, how much and in what form I take benefits.

I acknowledge and accept that Platform One Limited and Gaudi Trustees Limited do not provide financial, investment, tax, legal or any other form of advice and the services provided do not extend to financial advice under the terms of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Transfer in Declarations

I confirm that I wish to transfer the pension benefits from my transferring pension scheme(s), detailed in my application, into the Freetrade SIPP and instruct all relevant parties to proceed with arranging those transfers.

I authorise, instruct and apply to the current provider to transfer sums and assets from the plan(s) as listed in my transfer application, directly to Platform One Limited and to provide any instructions and/or discharge required by any relevant third party to do so.

I accept that in order to comply with regulatory obligations, Platform One Limited and the current provider named in this application may need to verify my identity and residential address, and may use credit reference agency searches and ask for my documents to verify my identity and address.

Until this application is accepted and complete, Platform One Limited's responsibility is limited to the return of the total payment(s) to the current provider(s).

When payment is made to Platform One Limited as instructed, this means that I shall no longer be entitled to receive pension benefits from the whole of the plan(s) listed in my transfer application where the whole of the plan(s) is transferring, or that part of the plan(s) represented by the payment(s) if only part of the plan(s) is transferring.

I have read any information provided or made available to me by the current provider in connection with this transfer.

I accept responsibility in respect of any claims, losses, expenses, additional tax charges or any penalties that Platform One Limited and the current provider may incur as a result of any incorrect, untrue or misleading information in this application or given by me, or on my behalf, or of any failure on my part to comply with any aspect of this application.

I authorise Platform One Limited, the current provider, any contributing Employer and any financial intermediary named in this application to obtain from each other, and release to each other, any information that may be required to enable the transfer of sums and assets to Platform One Limited.

Contribution Declaration

I understand that contributions which are not eligible for UK pension relief at source tax relief cannot be paid into this pension plan.

if contributions are paid to my Freetrade SIPP on which tax relief is sought, I declare that:

a) I am under age 75 and am a relevant UK individual (see Note 1, below).

b) The total of the contributions paid (see Note 2, below) to this Scheme and to other registered pension schemes, in respect of which I am entitled to tax relief, under section 188 of Finance Act 2004, will not exceed, in any tax year, the higher of:

• the basic amount in that tax year (see Note 3, below); or
• my relevant UK earnings (see Note 4, below) in that tax year.

c) The declaration in b), above, is correct, to the best of my knowledge and belief.

d) I will give notice to Freetrade if an event occurs, as a result of which I will no longer be entitled to relief on contributions, under section 188 of Finance Act 2004 for example, I cease to be a relevant UK individual (see Note 1, below). I will give this notice by the later of:

• 5th April in the year of assessment in which the event occurs; and
• the date which is 30 days after the occurrence of that event.
  

I understand and acknowledge that if I have made a successful application for Enhanced or Fixed Lifetime Allowance protection that was received by HMRC on or after 15th March 2023 this will be lost if a contribution is made to this pension plan or any other pension plan and it is my responsibility if this occurs.

I understand and acknowledge that once contributions have been received into my pension plan, they cannot generally be refunded other than where Excess Contribution Lump Sum Payment rules apply (see Note 5, below) or I cancel my pension plan within the 30 day cancellation period.

Note 1: Relevant UK individual

You are a relevant UK individual for a given tax year if you:

a) have relevant UK earnings (see Note 4, below) chargeable to income tax for that tax year; or

b) are resident in the United Kingdom at some time during that tax year; or

c) were resident in the UK at some time during the five tax years immediately before the tax year in question and were also resident in the UK when you joined the pension plan; or

d) you or your spouse have, for that tax year, general earnings from overseas Crown employment subject to UK tax (as defined by section 28 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA).

If you fall within category b), c) or d) above and you do not have relevant UK earnings, the maximum member contribution is the basic amount (see Note 3, below).

Note 2: Total contributions

This means the total gross contributions that you make each tax year to all the registered pension schemes of which you are a member. In the case of contributions to a relief at source scheme such as this pension plan, it means the full contributions, that is, the net contributions plus the amount of tax relief we collect from HMRC and add to the pension plan.

Note 3: The basic amount

The basic amount is currently £3,600 (including tax relief) and has remained at that amount since 2006. It may be changed by legislation in the future.

Note 4: Relevant UK earnings

As a general rule most income that is earned and assessable for income tax in the UK counts as relevant UK earnings.

Income that generally does not count includes:

• Pension income.
• Dividends.
• Most rental income.
• The first £30,000 of a redundancy payment.
• Income earned in the UK but not subject to UK income tax due to a double taxation agreement with another country where you are liable for tax.
  

Examples of earnings that count as relevant UK earnings can be found on the HMRC website here: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/pensions-tax-manual/ptm044100#earnings.

A summary of some types of relevant earnings is provided below:

• Employment income such as salary, wages, bonus, overtime and commission providing it is chargeable to tax under Section 7 (2) Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (ITEPA).
• Income derived from the carrying on or exercise of a trade, profession or vocation (whether individually or as a partner acting personally in a partnership) chargeable under Part 2 Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005.
• Rental income is generally not relevant earnings. Some rental income may be included if it relates to UK or EEA furnished holiday lettings under Part 3 of Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 (ITTOIA 2005).
• Patent income, where the individual alone or jointly devised the invention for which the patent in question is granted, but only if it falls under specific tax categories.
• General earnings from an overseas Crown employment which are subject to tax in accordance with section 28 of ITEPA 2003.
  

The above is not a complete list of relevant earnings. As you must declare that your contributions in excess of the basic amount will not exceed your relevant UK earnings in any given tax year, if you are in any doubt as to whether earnings, on which you are reliant to justify the amount of contribution being paid, are relevant UK earnings, then you should seek professional advice.

Note 5: Excess Contribution Lump Sum Payment

Ordinarily, once contributions have been made into a pension plan, they cannot be refunded. However, pension rules do make allowance for the fact that individuals may end up having contributed more than the tax relief limit, for example, because they did not earn as much as they expected during a tax year. If an excess contribution happens, you are required to tell the Scheme Administrator so that it can refund to HMRC the excess tax relief that has been collected. HMRC will deal with you directly about recovering any tax relief above the basic rate that they have given you in relation to the excess contribution.

You then have a choice about your net excess contribution. You can either leave that in your pension plan or request that the Scheme Administrator refunds some or all of it to you. There are many factors to consider when deciding what is right and if you are in any doubt, you should seek professional advice.

Cancellation Rights

Your pension plan membership will start when the first payment (contribution payment or pension transfer payment) is received into your pension plan. Up until receipt of the first payment you can withdraw your application for pension plan membership. Please note that it may not always be possible to stop a payment if it is in the final stages of being sent.

When your pension plan membership starts you have a legal right to cancel your pension plan within 30 days. However, please note if payments have already been invested you may get back less than you paid in due to investment costs and a fall in investment value. Please note that some transferring schemes may not accept a return of a pension transfer payment or may only accept it on alternative terms which may not be acceptable to you. Under those circumstances you may choose to keep the pension transfer payment within this pension plan or arrange for a pension transfer to an alternative registered pension scheme of your choice that will accept the pension transfer payment.

Information about your right to change your mind will be included in your Welcome Email. If you do wish to withdraw your application or cancel your pension plan you should send us a message via our in-app chat in your Freetrade mobile app. You must send it no later than the 30th day after the first payment has been received into your pension plan. If you go beyond this time limit we are not allowed to cancel your pension plan or to return contribution payments received.

Access

You can access your Freetrade SIPP from the Freetrade mobile app. You’ll have the ability to access and view correspondence that is generated about your Freetrade SIPP.

We hope you find the mobile app offering provides you with the assurance you require in understanding the current position of your Freetrade SIPP.

If you have any pension related queries about your Freetrade SIPP, please contact us via our in-app chat in your Freetrade mobile app.