Can I contribute more than £2880?

dboswell

I understand if you have no earnings you can add £2880 and get a £720 top up taking it to £3,600.

Can I add another £2,400 without top up making my total contribution of £5,280 plus the £720?

AnotherJoe

In theory you can but it would be complicated to do, and also potentially mean you have to pay extra tax when you withdraw. Put the extra money in an ISA.

dboswell

ISA maxed.

No pension provision atm.

Aiming to use PA to max on retirement.

AnotherJoe

In that case I'd just put it in an ordinary funds account, because of the potential tax cost of getting it out of a SIPP would likely be greater than the management cost of the ISA, and capital gains and income would be low.

Slightly more complex, three accounts instead of two, but nothing unmanageable.

cloud_dog

dboswell wrote: »

I understand if you have no earnings you can add £2880 and get a £720 top up taking it to £3,600.

Can I add another £2,400 without top up making my total contribution of £5,280 plus the £720?

How old are you? Could you look to utilise a LISA???

michaels

Surely in a pension any growth is tax free whereas unwrapped there is the potential for a tax liability (assuming no tax will be payable on the way out because the total pension is small)?

We have achieved what the op describes using Cavendish on the fidelity platform.

cloud_dog

michaels wrote: »

Surely in a pension any growth is tax free whereas unwrapped their is the potential for a tax liability (assuming no tax will be payable on the way out because the total pension is small)?

Not if you contribute more than your personal / annual allowance.

kidmugsy

dboswell wrote: »

Can I add another £2,400 without top up making my total contribution of £5,280 plus the £720?

Not a terribly good idea. With your CGT exemption of around £11k, and your Personal Allowance against income tax of nearly £12k, plus a dividend allowance of £2k, it would probably be wiser just to bung the money into an ordinary tax-exposed share and funds account. Consider Vanguard, for instance, or Hargreaves Lansdown, or iWeb.

If you want to diversify, put the money into gold sovereigns, or P2P lending, or ..... Heavens, you could open a Nationwide FlexDirect account and make 5% AER on the money as long as you honour the T&Cs.

AnotherJoe

michaels wrote: »

Surely in a pension any growth is tax free whereas unwrapped there is the potential for a tax liability (assuming no tax will be payable on the way out because the total pension is small)?

We have achieved what the op describes using Cavendish on the fidelity platform.

1) Big assumption especially once SP kicks in.
2) Why take the risk of paying tax when there's no need to.
3) Capital gains on these small sums is unlikely and easily managed by sell and rebuy every few years.

Did you have to do something special with Cavendish to stop them adding the 25% tax uplift when you added money?

SmashedAvacado

can the OP just wait until 6 April and do it then. In the meantime, perhaps use it to buy some premium bonds or save it in a 6 month deposit.

atush

dboswell wrote: »

ISA maxed.

No pension provision atm.

Aiming to use PA to max on retirement.

What is your income? If nothing, then 2880/3600 it is.