SSAS and SIPP Tax and Compliance
Written and reviewed by the Pension Tax Accountants editorial team. Last reviewed 29 July 2026.
A small self-administered scheme, or SSAS, is an occupational pension often run by company directors, and a SIPP is a self-invested personal pension. Both give the member more control, and with that control comes tax and compliance work. We handle that tax and administrative side so your scheme reporting is right.
This is deliberately narrow. We deal with employer contributions into the scheme, the tax rules on an authorised employer loan back to the sponsoring company, and the tax treatment of commercial property held by the scheme. It connects naturally with our director pension contributions work.
We do not advise on what the SSAS or SIPP invests in. The investments inside the scheme are not our business and are outside what we are engaged to do. Decisions about investments, the pension product, transfers or drawdown are FCA-regulated advice, and you should take them with an FCA-authorised adviser.
What the SSAS and SIPP Work Covers
We deal with the tax and compliance mechanics: confirming that employer contributions are deductible and correctly reported, checking inputs against the member annual allowance, and preparing the tax treatment of a commercial property the scheme holds, including how rent and any purchase are handled for tax.
We keep to what can be confirmed from the tax rules and the scheme documents. Where a question is really about investment merit rather than tax, we say so and point you to the right adviser rather than answer it ourselves.
Where the Loanback Rules Bite
A SSAS can make an authorised employer loan back to the sponsoring company, but the conditions are strict. The loan is limited to 50% of the scheme's net asset value, must carry first charge security and a minimum interest rate, and must run for no more than five years in equal instalments. HMRC sets out these conditions in its Pensions Tax Manual, and the definition of an authorised employer loan sits in section 179 of the Finance Act 2004.
The 50% loanback limit is often confused with the separate 50% limit on how much a scheme can borrow, which is a different rule at PTM124000. We keep the two apart, because getting them mixed up is how an unauthorised payment charge arises.
How We Run the Scheme Compliance
We check that any employer loan meets every condition before it is made, document the security, interest and repayment schedule, and monitor that the instalments are actually paid so the loan stays authorised. For scheme property we prepare the tax entries and keep the records HMRC expects.
Where the scheme takes an action we cannot confirm as tax compliant, we tell you and set out the exposure rather than sign it off, because an unauthorised payment can carry a heavy charge.
What SSAS and SIPP Tax Work Costs
We work to a fixed fee agreed before we start. The fee reflects whether we are handling routine annual compliance or a specific event such as a loanback or a property purchase.
Because this work excludes anything to do with the investments, the scope is clear from the outset and so is the fee.