This week the Revenue published four Pensions Updates, Nos. 138, 139, 140 and 141, which include extensive amendments to the Personal Pension Guidance Notes (IR 76). Most of the changes are highlighted, in both the paper replacement pages and the online version, with the exception of Parts 13 and 22 which have been entirely re-written (and the latter split into 22A and 22B), and index changes. A minority amount to new practice, although some of the 'clarifications' are also quite significant. A new Appendix 26 is added, about mis-selling issues.

The few changes not specifically mentioned in the Updates concern the definition of 'authorised pension providers': Parts 2.1, 2.1a and 2.2 plus the Glossary (where three different definitions of the term are presented) are affected. The term is cited at several points in the text (eg Parts 13.6 and 22A.5) without it being quite clear which of the three definitions is meant.

Note: Update 141 additionally makes a large number of changes to the Practice Notes (IR 12), mostly announced in previous Updates, and inserts a new Appendix 8 (not highlighted) in the FSAVC Supplement: these will be examined in detail in a subsequent report on this page.