Earning 130k is it no brainer to max pens cont?

tiring33

Totally agree with the comments here. Increasing your pension contribution to bring your taxable salary under £100k takes you below the 60% tax band between £100k-£125k (due to the reduction of in personal allowance). If this does cause you (eventually) to exceed the LTA the most you'll pay back to HMRC (under current rules) is 55%, so you avoid paying 60% today in order to pay 55% in the future. As previous posters have pointed out, this 55% LTA charge is only payable if you withdraw the excess as a lump sum, or if you assign it to income and pay the 25% LTA charge followed by the higher rate tax of 40% when you withdraw it as income. If you withdraw the excess income as a 20% taxpayer you pay less. In the meantime your money (and HMRCs) is in your pension fund which provides some protection from IHT and a potential buffer against major market corrections. Paying via salary sacrifice adds another 2% benefit.

If you do end up in the happy position of exceeding the LTA due to your additional contributions from this £100k-£125k band, just remember that you would have paid 60% on it anyway - it's just deferring the tax while you keep the money for a bit longer.

Of course the normal rules of sound financial planning apply, the above assumes you don't need the money for anything else today, e.g. paying down debts, new car to allow you to work etc.