Part 4: Income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax Section 23 and Schedule 4: Pensions: annual allowance Details of the section and Schedule 4 Part 1: Alignment of pension input periods with tax years
Part 1 aligns pension input periods with the tax year from 6 April 2016. Pension input periods are the period over which an individual's pension savings for an arrangement within a registered pension scheme are valued for testing against their annual allowance.
	Paragraph 2 amends section 238 of FA 2004, so that the current tax rules on when a pension input period runs from, only apply to pension input periods that commenced before 9 July 2015. Section 238 is also made subject to new section 238ZA.
	Paragraph 3 inserts new sections 238ZA and 238ZB into FA 2004.
	New section 238ZA aligns all pension input periods for arrangements set up before 9 July 2015 with the tax year. It sets out that any pension input period open on 8 July 2015, ends on 8 July 2015. The next pension input period will be from 9 July 2015 to 5 April 2016. All subsequent pension input periods will be for the tax year, starting with 6 April 2016 to 5 April 2017.
	New section 238ZB aligns all pension input periods with the tax year for any new arrangements set up on or after 9 July 2015. For these arrangements the first pension input will start on the relevant commencement date, as set out in section 238(2) and end on the next 5 April. Where the relevant commencement date is 5 April, it will end on the same day. All subsequent pension input periods will be for the tax year, starting with the next 6 April.
	Paragraph 4 omits section 227E of FA 2004 as a consequence of aligning pension input periods with the tax year, as from 9 July 2015 it will no longer be able to have a pension input period ending before the last day of the tax year. Paragraph 4 also makes further consequential amendments to sections 227B to 227D of FA 2004, because of the removal of section 227E.