Tailored Service for Taylors Ensures Maximum Pension Benefits

When two of the Partners of commercial law firm, Taylors Solicitors, wanted to maximise their pension income by transferring existing assets into their SIPPs (Self Invested Personal Pension), they expected the process to be straight forward. The reality, however, was quite different.

Senior partner of Taylors Solicitors, Tony Catterall, explains: “Our existing financial advisers had set up the SIPPs and a commercial property had been put into them.”

“We wanted to transfer some AIM (Alternative Investment Market) shares into the SIPPs before the end of the financial year in order to benefit from our annual pension contribution allowance and contacted our advisers around three months in advance of the cut off date. However, we were told that the transaction was too complex due to the possibility of fluctuations in share prices so we began to look around for alternative advice.”

Taylors Solicitors was already familiar with Taylor Patterson because the firm’s employment law department works closely with Taylor Patterson’s Employee Benefits team.

When Tony mentioned the difficulty he and fellow Partner, Elaine Hurn, had experienced in transferring the shares into their SIPPs, the Taylor Patterson SIPP/SSAS team advised that the transaction could, indeed, be done.

Tony continues: “We had already shopped around but it seems that the big players simply didn't offer the bespoke service that Taylor Patterson can provide.

“Because Taylor Patterson offers a face-to-face, individualised approach, from both the advisory and trustee business, to finding a best fit solution, they were able to advise us on the best way to manage our assets within the deadline required to capture the additional pension contributions for the tax year.”

With only a month to go until the end of the tax year, James McIntyre financial adviser at Taylor Patterson advised Tony and Elaine to create a new SIPP each, into which the AIM shares could be transferred. With the help of local Stockbrokers, Hedley’s & Co, the AIM shares were then transferred into the new SIPPs before the end of the tax year so that Tony and Elaine could benefit from their annual pension contribution allowance.

With the urgent transaction now completed, Taylor Patterson is continuing to guide Tony and Elaine on the best ways to manage their pension assets.

Tony continues: “Taylor Patterson has suggested we consolidate all four SIPPs into a single SSAS (Small Self-Administered Scheme). There is less urgency for this as its now several months until the end of the current tax year. “The service from the Taylor Patterson team has been fast and efficient throughout and tailored to meet our needs. We have been very impressed that Taylor Patterson has been able to complete a transaction that a much larger firm couldn’t help us with and have really benefited from the company’s ‘can do’ approach.”