Grab sal sac while you can?

kidmugsy

http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/issues/28-april-2016/treasury-shelves-salary-sacrifice-crackdown-over-brexit-fears/

RickyB2000

Hmm, I am thinking of voting brexit for the simple reason that they will be so busy sorting it out they may actually leave pensions alone for a while. And I consider myself somewhat pro-Europe.

The constant uncertainty drives me nuts!

dunstonh

Technically, salary sacrifice was originally a loophole. It wasnt abused by people so it was left alone and a minority benefited from it. With auto-enrolment, it became virtually the norm.

Typically, loopholes get closed once they start to get mainstream use that costs the treasury enough to make it viable to close it.

jamesd

The key part of that story is this at the end:

'The Budget document said: “The Government is considering limiting the range of benefits that attract income tax and NICs advantages when they are provided as part of salary sacrifice schemes.

“However, the Government’s intention is that pension saving, childcare and health-related benefits such as cycle to work should continue to benefit from income tax and NICs relief when provided through salary sacrifice arrangements.”'

That eliminates from consideration most of what salary sacrifice is used for.

WobblyDog

My employer is currently vigourously promoting a salary-sacrifice car-leasing scheme to its employees. The prices don't seem very attractive, so I assume the main motivation is the 13.8% employer NI savings. I can't see a rational chancellor allowing this sort of thing to continue much longer.

In any case, I've salary-sacrificed almost down to minimum wage level to boost my pension, so that I will have the option of retiring early if I want to.

robin61

I have definitely been making the most of it while it' s still there. Wondering what will happen with pensions from one budget to the next is not what we should be having to put up with but that seems to be the reality.