According to James Hay, HM Revenue and Customs has made it impossible to purchase alternative investments to put in a Sipp. They believe that the Revenue’s interpretation has ruined investor’s plans of putting personal pension cash into alternative investments, such as wine, art, and jewellery. The Revenue have said that a benefit-in-kind charge would be payable if an alternative investment was available for the pension scheme member to use. This means that if someone bought a piece of jewellery and locked it away in their safe with a view of never wearing it, but waited until it appreciated before selling it, they would incur a benefit-in-kind charge.
Our view
There is a fine line between real investment for retirement purposes and investment for so called "investments" that perhaps give more pleasure than accumulated growth prospects. "Hic ........ she's wearning a nice tiara". We believe the Inland Revenue should not widen alternative investment availability and it goes against what pension funds are designed for.