What is included in Taxable Income?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Phantom_Investor said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Dividends are not earnings for pension contribution purposes.

There is more information here,

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/pensions-tax-manual/ptm044100#earnings

Many thanks - that's very useful!
It seems to me that HMRC (in trying to provide guidance in plain language) are in some cases just confusing people. 

Can I please a another question, regarding HMRC calculations (provided as part of the Self-Assessment)?:

Basic-rate tax on dividends is only 8.75%, but dividends are just added to "Total from all Employments" to give "Total income received". The Personal Allowance is then subtracted to give "Total income on which tax is due". 

This seems to suggest that the dividends are actually taxed at 20%, and not 8.75%

I can't see any further reference to dividends in the calcs.

Dividends have four different tax rates, none of which are 20%.

Phantom_Investor

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Dividends have four different tax rates, none of which are 20%.

Yes, I understand that's what the tax rules state.
My point is, that based on the summary of the calculations provided by HMRC (described above)  - they seem to be taxed together with employment income and therefore at either 20% or 40%!?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Phantom_Investor said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Dividends have four different tax rates, none of which are 20%.

Yes, I understand that's what the tax rules state.
My point is, that based on the summary of the calculations provided by HMRC (described above)  - they seem to be taxed together with employment income and therefore at either 20% or 40%!?

Not sure where you're looking but the paper calculation document can be accessed here and that clearly shows the four rates that dividends can be taxed at.

You could work through it (the Notes version) using your own figures as an example.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-assessment-tax-calculation-summary-sa110

Phantom_Investor

Dazed_and_C0nfused said

You could work through it (the Notes version) using your own figures as an example.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-assessment-tax-calculation-summary-sa110

Many thanks - that's great. I will do that using my own figures and compare - I can see in the notes the different rates for dividends. 
If anybody is interested - the attached is what I'm referring to - the tax calculations provided by HMRC on  submission of a self-assessment tax return. It's an extract from my 2024 submission, I've removed the figures, but it seems to be based on just treating dividends exactly the same as employment income.  

TheSpectator

Phantom_Investor said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said

You could work through it (the Notes version) using your own figures as an example.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-assessment-tax-calculation-summary-sa110

Many thanks - that's great. I will do that using my own figures and compare - I can see in the notes the different rates for dividends. 
If anybody is interested - the attached is what I'm referring to - the tax calculations provided by HMRC on  submission of a self-assessment tax return. It's an extract from my 2024 submission, I've removed the figures, but it seems to be based on just treating dividends exactly the same as employment income.  

Would be helpful if you left the numbers in to check for you