The Revenue has published Pensions Update No 137 which advises that the 1996 SSAS Funding Guidelines (Appendix IX of the Practice Notes (IR 12)) have been revised, with effect from 11 March 2003, to align them with the EPP maximum funding rules contained in Appendix VIII. This provides very welcome clarification that the same rules apply to both types of scheme.
While the two Appendices are recognisably different, this seems largely because two industry bodies, the APT and the ABI respectively, were separately responsible for drafting (para 3 of the Update states that the APT "have broadly achieved" the objective of aligning the two versions). In practical terms the calculation rules are identical in all key aspects, including assumptions. Thus it is now possible to construct a single program which may be relied upon equally for calculating maximum contributions to either an EPP or a SSAS.
In fact, Aries has already achieved this: APS users can continue to use the Aries Maximum Funding calculations in the knowledge that the program fully complies with Update 137. No changes are required.