Pension\ISA's and HMRC retirement allowances

tris39

Hi  all
Just wondering what is the better way of managing the allowances that me and my partner have.
I am in the higher income tax bracket and my partner is not.  We are both 39 and  I am currently making the most of saving into my Stocks and Shares ISA and my work place pension which offer a 4% match, total I am putting in roughly 18%.
At what point does it become sensible if at all to starting placing funds into my partners Pension as opposed to mine.  I am considering the implications of withdrawal liabilities once we get to that point.  Is there a spreadsheet or something which we could use to model this? 
Thank you

Albermarle

Probably at this stage your first priority is to get as much higher rate tax relief as you can from contributing to your pension.
Especially if your salary is well above the higher rate threshold.
It does make sense in retirement not to have one partner with a large pension and the other one with a small one , but that is a future issue and for now making best use of current tax relief is probably more of a priority.

mcooke999

The best thing you can do is maximise your pension contributions up to the limit of your higher rate tax relief. Use the money in your ISA if required to do this to limit your tax liabilities. 

Dox

mcooke999 said:

The best thing you can do is maximise your pension contributions up to the limit of your higher rate tax relief. Use the money in your ISA if required to do this to limit your tax liabilities. 

That assumes OP is happy to tie up the money until at least age 55 (probably older by the time they get there). Letting everything be driven by tax considerations overlooks other important considerations, not least the other immediate calls on your budget.