A payment by a registered pension scheme that is not permitted by rules contained in the Finance Act 2004 (FA 2004). For example, payment of a scheme pension before normal minimum pension age would be an unauthorised payment unless the member is in ill-health, as would a lump sum that does not qualify as one of the permitted types of lump sum referred to in the FA 2004. There is an automatic tax charge on unauthorised payments, known as the unauthorised payments charge, and in some circumstances an additional unauthorised payments surcharge.