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Lump sum pension contribution before potential Labour tax raid?
Comments
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Ron_Weasley said:dunstonh said:A major change like that takes years. Not days, weeks or months.
The new government could annouce similar - e.g. dropping the maximum contribution back down to £40k or lower, on Friday if they so chose.
You are talking about a wholesale change to how pensions and payroll work, along with all the indirect areas that will come from that. I wouldn't be surprised to see it end up coming at some point. However, its the sort of thing that comes after a longer consultation period. Its akin to the sorts of things that happened under Labour previously with A day. That took around 5 years to come to fruition.The new government could annouce similar - e.g. dropping the maximum contribution back down to £40k or lower, on Friday if they so chose.Which would be very easy to implement within the existing framework.
I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.2 -
I doubt much will change in any respect. Labour and Tory are virtually identical1
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Ron_Weasley said:The pension is a salary-sacrifice, BTW so there's no grossing up going on. I just put the gross amount in.0
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[Deleted User] said:booneruk said:It would be very difficult to reduce tax relief to a common base if salary sacrifice is still a thing, at least as far as I see it. Would they completely kill that off?
From my pov though, I've been salary sacrificing into my pension since 2015 and have made sure almost all my 40% taxable income has been going in, so I'm not really sure what changed for me in 2017 (and therefore what can be reversed)0 -
[Deleted User] said:booneruk said:[Deleted User] said:booneruk said:It would be very difficult to reduce tax relief to a common base if salary sacrifice is still a thing, at least as far as I see it. Would they completely kill that off?
From my pov though, I've been salary sacrificing into my pension since 2015 and have made sure almost all my 40% taxable income has been going in, so I'm not really sure what changed for me in 2017 (and therefore what can be reversed)
The government got bored with that and so they changed the rules to say in that type of situation you got taxed on the (higher) salary you gave up rather than on the (lower) value of the benefit that you received. The exceptions are mainly salary sacrifice for (i) pensions, (ii) childcare vouchers, (iii) low emission cars, and (iv) bike to work schemes.
So there is a whole framework already in place for stopping people getting a tax advantage with salary sacrifce schemes. It would be legislatively simple to (i) just delete the pensions exemption, and (ii) make clear that the extra employer contribution is treated as an employee one. There is no technically "very difficult", but I'm not saying anything of the politics.1 -
I hear the next Government are going to rob my piggy bank 🐖 🐷 Oh no whatever shall I do... 🤦♂️
I hear the next Government are going to make everyone a millionaire, I can't wait to buy a Lambo or maybe ladies of the night and some Columbian marching powder.1 -
[Deleted User] said:FIREDreamer said:[Deleted User] said:booneruk said:[Deleted User] said:booneruk said:It would be very difficult to reduce tax relief to a common base if salary sacrifice is still a thing, at least as far as I see it. Would they completely kill that off?
From my pov though, I've been salary sacrificing into my pension since 2015 and have made sure almost all my 40% taxable income has been going in, so I'm not really sure what changed for me in 2017 (and therefore what can be reversed)
The government got bored with that and so they changed the rules to say in that type of situation you got taxed on the (higher) salary you gave up rather than on the (lower) value of the benefit that you received. The exceptions are mainly salary sacrifice for (i) pensions, (ii) childcare vouchers, (iii) low emission cars, and (iv) bike to work schemes.
So there is a whole framework already in place for stopping people getting a tax advantage with salary sacrifce schemes. It would be legislatively simple to (i) just delete the pensions exemption, and (ii) make clear that the extra employer contribution is treated as an employee one. There is no technically "very difficult", but I'm not saying anything of the politics.It would be very difficult to reduce tax relief to a common base if salary sacrifice is still a thing, at least as far as I see it. Would they completely kill that off?Any changes that go beyond that go in the "hard" box. And that's quite a big whatever other changes a future government might want to make.0 -
[Deleted User] said:booneruk said:[Deleted User] said:booneruk said:It would be very difficult to reduce tax relief to a common base if salary sacrifice is still a thing, at least as far as I see it. Would they completely kill that off?
From my pov though, I've been salary sacrificing into my pension since 2015 and have made sure almost all my 40% taxable income has been going in, so I'm not really sure what changed for me in 2017 (and therefore what can be reversed)
The government got bored with that and so they changed the rules to say in that type of situation you got taxed on the (higher) salary you gave up rather than on the (lower) value of the benefit that you received. The exceptions are mainly salary sacrifice for (i) pensions, (ii) childcare vouchers, (iii) low emission cars, and (iv) bike to work schemes.
So there is a whole framework already in place for stopping people getting a tax advantage with salary sacrifce schemes. It would be legislatively simple to (i) just delete the pensions exemption, and (ii) make clear that the extra employer contribution is treated as an employee one. There is no technically "very difficult", but I'm not saying anything of the politics.
Say I'm an employer and I offer you a job paying £50k salary plus £50k pension conts. You have the option of trading some of your pension conts for extra pay. If the legislation is consistent with the way company cars work, then that would be perfectly acceptable.
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Ron_Weasley said:They changed the annual limit from £40k to £60k at a stroke.
The BBC website also has a comment from some chap in Richmond that "the result is not a foregone conclusion" so best we all wait until Friday before worrying about what the Government might do0 -
JoeCrystal said:Here is an idea: How about we wait and see? What if things change? Pensions and all financial matters are always subject to the whims of governments anyway. Ron_Weasley will have to put up with changes anyway, but I suspect they can tolerate such changes better than most!
Enough about political fearmongering anyway. This is just like every time there is a budget; there are always rumours about removing a tax-free lump sum, and guess what? That has not happened!
Budgets and statements are made, laws and regulations are changed, and we, like everyone else in the country, must put up with it. I certainly do not have time to worry about what might happen in the next tax year; it is best to focus on what is possible right now regarding retirement provision and make changes when and if necessary.
One does not need to be Warren Buffet in order to recognise that any incoming government is going to face some difficult spending Vs taxing Vs borrowing decisions. And having ruled out changes to the big revenue streams (income tax, VAT etc) it is not rocket science to figure out that other tax opportunities may be in the firing line. Inheritance tax, capital gains tax and pension tax relief being the obvious candidates.
I have come into a high income bracket very late in life and do not have millions to fall back on. I am carefully planning how much I may need in my (hopefully imminent) retirement and can well do without losing potentially tens of thousands due to not giving any thoughts to possible future changes. If you are lucky enough to not have to think about such things then good on you.
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