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Earmarking meaning

What does Earmarking mean?
Earmarking is the court‑ordered redirection of part of a pension scheme member’s benefits to a former spouse or civil partner, with payment made only when the scheme pays the member’s pension or lump sum. In England & Wales and Northern Ireland it is legislatively termed a pension attachment order; in Scotland a broadly equivalent earmarking order exists; in Ireland the closest equivalent is a Pension Adjustment Order under the Family Law Acts, which can allocate retirement or death benefits and, in some cases, provide for a transfer to create an independent benefit. Key features: no immediate split or transfer of pension rights; benefits remain in the member’s name; payments are contingent on the member’s retirement timing, commutation choices and scheme rules; orders can target pension income, tax‑free lump sums and, sometimes, death‑in‑service lump sums; and they typically do not achieve a clean break because the recipient remains dependent on the member’s decisions and longevity. Although still available, earmarking/attachment has largely been superseded in the UK by pension sharing orders (which create a separate pension for the recipient). As an alternative, parties may use pension offsetting (reallocation against other assets). Used in divorce and civil partnership dissolution across the UK and Ireland, with...
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NEWS
Can a deed between siblings earmarking gifted funds for an aunt’s care override their wills? Trust analysis and IHT (PET/GWR) issues (England and Wales)

See Q&A A client has been given money by his aunt as a gift. His brother has been given an identical sum. The brothers have decided to reserve the money for her care should it be needed, and they have prepared a Deed to record that understanding. Do the provisions of the Deed take precedence over their Wills (which leave their respective estates to their wives)?...

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View the related Practice Notes about Earmarking

PRACTICE NOTES
UK disguised remuneration and pensions: Part 7A ITEPA 2003—gateways, relevant steps, exclusions, and implications for EFRBS; HMRC Spotlight 58

What is disguised remuneration? For many years, HMRC has worked to ensure that rewards arising from employment are correctly brought within income tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs), deducted by employers through the pay as you earn (PAYE) regime. To support this objective, the Finance Act 2011 introduced the disguised remuneration rules, designed to address the use of Employer Financed Retirement Benefit Schemes (EFRBS), Employee Benefits Trusts and other forms of ‘disguised remuneration’, so that receiving benefits is no more advantageous than taking a wage. The legislation places a PAYE duty on the employer and/or trustees of pension arrangements to collect income tax and the related National Insurance Contribution (NIC) charges. It also serves as a clear warning to employers and the promoters of tax avoidance schemes that contrived pay structures intended to avoid, defer or lessen income tax liabilities will face robust challenge. When the draft provisions were published in December 2010, they attracted significant criticism because of their broad scope and the risk that they...

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PRACTICE NOTES
Pension attachment (earmarking) orders in England and Wales: scope, risks, tax, variation, implementation and FCA considerations

This Practice Note outlines the nature of a pension attachment order made in family proceedings (formerly known as an earmarking order) and identifies which pension benefit rights are capable of attachment and which are not. It also covers the core features of a pension attachment order, the risks and ways to reduce them, variation matters and tax effects. Key features of pension attachment A pension attachment order directs the person responsible for a pension arrangement (the PRPA) to pay a percentage of the following to the person without pension benefit rights (the non-member party), rather than to the person with pension benefit rights under the arrangement (the member-party): pension income, and/or pension commencement lump sum, and/or lump sum payable in respect of the member-party’s death A pension arrangement means an occupational pension scheme, a personal pension scheme, a retirement annuity contract, and annuities bought under an occupational or personal pension scheme, or to meet liability in respect of a pension...

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PRACTICE NOTES
Pensions glossary for family and matrimonial finance lawyers: schemes, tax reliefs, state pension, auto-enrolment, offsetting, PPF, valuation, drawdown and post-2024 lifetime allowance changes

A-day 'A-day' is the widely used term for the broad pension tax 'simplification' reforms that began on 6 April 2006. The changes covered: how much pension contribution was allowed, the kinds of schemes an individual could invest in, the sums that could be taken (and when), and the choices available for any remaining fund. A-day also introduced the annual allowance and the (now abolished) lifetime allowance. See: Annual allowance and Lifetime allowance. AFPS AFPS: Armed forces pension scheme; see Practice Note: Public sector pensions and family proceedings. Accrual rate The speed at which pension benefits build as pensionable service is completed in a final salary scheme, eg 1/60 for each year of pensionable service. Accrued benefits The benefits earned in respect of service up to a specified date. Added years Extra pension provided by adding further years of pensionable service in a salary-related scheme. Such additional years are secured via transfer payments or through additional voluntary contributions/augmentation...

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