Pension tax relief question

R_P_W

Hi all, I'm usually fairly good with numbers but my brain is stuck in 2nd gear today.

My gross salary is ~£63k per year excluding any bonus.  I get paid every four weeks so get 13 pay days a year.

My 4 weekly gross is £4.8k, and I currently contribute 15% to my pension which means I pay in £728 and I pay £683 income tax and £395 in NI every four weeks.

I have two questions:-

1.  Am I getting the 40% tax relief automatically based on these numbers?
2. If I was to increase my pension contribution to say 20% would that more or less take me out of the 40% bracket?  Looks like this would boost my pension by £240 a month and my take-home pay only reduces by £97 so seem like a no brainer?

Thanks in advance.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

1.  You haven't said what method is used to contribute so possible to say.  Usual options (where you are contributing) are net pay and relief at source.

2.  Same answer, until you provide the method it's impossible to know how much you are actually contributing (gross) at the moment.

zagfles

Looks like it. What's your tax code?

Check how your "gross taxable to date" on your payslip increases every month. It should increase by salary minus pension contributions. That means you're either in a "net pay" or salary sacrifice scheme and so are getting full tax relief in your payslip. By the look of the NI it's not sal sac.

Looks like you'll get 40% relief on the rest if you contribute 20%, as 80% of £63k is £50400, just above the higher rate tax limit.

nigelbb

It's very unusual to be paid four weekly in the UK. What is there a reason for this? Is it specific to your firm or your industry?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

nigelbb said:

It's very unusual to be paid four weekly in the UK. What is there a reason for this? Is it specific to your firm or your industry?

Asda pay 4 weekly, not sure why but they 145k employees so not that unusual!