Operational updates
For action
Request your AA taper letters
The Annual Allowance (AA) for 2018/19 tax year is £40,000. You can read more about the AA in our factsheet and there’s an Introduction to pension tax online.
All members will have their AA figure for 2018/19 included in their annual member statement. Members whose contributions to USS exceed £40,000 will also have their carry forward figures for the last three years included in their statement so you won’t need to request a letter for these members.
However, you may have members with earnings which include those outside of USS that may cause them to have a reduced Annual Allowance limit. To help these members with their tax planning you may request an AA taper letter for them which will detail their AA figure in USS along with their last three year’s carry forward, including all the necessary details in respect of USS for them to calculate the effect of the tapered AA.
Please submit your request on an Excel spreadsheet, via the employer portal Send us a file, with:
- National insurance number
- Member surname
- Date of birth
- Member number (if known)
- please name your file ‘XXXX AA taper request’ where XXXX is your institution code
To ensure that you receive the AA taper letters by 31 October please request the letters no later than 31 July 2019.
If you have any queries please contact Paul Cowley, Operations Manager.
Members opting-out and withdrawing
In the April employer update we asked you to provide details of how many members opted out or provided notice to withdraw in the previous quarter, for what reason and in what age bracket. The information gathered as part of this voluntary process can help inform scheme and new product design and was requested by the scheme’s stakeholders, including UUK and UCEA. In next month’s employer update we’ll be sharing some more information about the results from the first three months of 2019 and ask you to submit your results for the quarter ending 30 June 2019.
My USS user guides
We’ve created a suite of My USS user guides. They include screen shots and are intended to help members use the portal and give you an overview of what’s available, even though you may not have access yourself. They’re available from a new member resources page on My USS for members and you can find them in the document library on the employer resource hub.
Mandatory scheme pays
Members who have breached the standard annual allowance of £40,000 can elect for mandatory Scheme Pays to pay any tax charge that might arise as a result of exceeding this amount. If they wish to take this option for the 2017/18 tax year, the statutory deadline for notifying USS is 31 July 2019. They should complete and submit the scheme pays form to USS, confirmation will be sent to them once the process is complete.
There is a Pension Tax section on the USS website with lots of useful information for members including, the Scheme Pays factsheet and modeller for members whose USS Investment Builder fund doesn’t cover the tax charge.
If you have any queries please contact the Pensions Technical Enquiries team.
Fund factsheets
Updated USS fund factsheets are now available on the employer portal, and My USS for members. The factsheets are updated quarterly to reflect the latest fund performance and asset allocation.
ISO 27001
USS has had its ISO 27001 accreditation renewed. This international quality standard for information security offers you and our members assurance that all our member and commercial data is being handled safely and securely. Our accreditation covers both offices, USS Ltd in Liverpool and USS Investment Management Ltd in London.