Avoid 60% tax with pension?

Hi UK Monkeys,

Have a question, in UK you face 60% tax between 100k-125k as they reduce your personal allowance. My base is below 100k but with bonus I will be comfortable in this range. As bonus is given lump sum end of year, can I immediately pension contribute extra than I normally would once I get the bonus, before the bonus is taxed at 60% if that makes sense

Thanks

 
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The issue with the marginal tax rate of 60% is unfortunately unavoidable unless you want to contribute all of your earnings above £100k into your pensions, which you can only access by the age of 55 at the earliest.

So if you earn, for example, £120k all-in, it might make a lot of sense to consider contributing up to £20k into the pension. If you are at £150k or above, I would not recommend to put everything above £100k into pensions.

In addition to the access age, I would also consider the fees and limited investment opportunities associated with pension accounts. At least my pension account provided by my employer is a rip-off in terms of management fees, so if you are 25 and need to pay the fees for 30 years, you might as well just want to give it to HMRC.

Disclaimer: I am not a tax advisor.

 

A few counter-points, take it or leave it as I am also not a tax advisor:

  • Your pension allowance tapers off after your income exceeds ~£200k, down to a minimum of £4k. If you plan on staying in a finance career then you should utilise your pension allowance today because you will lose the chance to do so in future. 
  • The tax savings are no joke. If you salary sacrifice £1,000 and pay 40% tax rate, that means you lose £600 post-tax in return for £1,000 invested for tax-free capital gains. Some companies will also reimburse you for their savings on national insurance, meaning that a total of £1000 * 115.05% = £1,150.50 will be paid into your account. This is nearly 2x MoC and instantaneous - you would normally need to be invested in the S&P 500 for several years to get that kind of return. Obviously, the economics are even more attractive if your marginal tax rate is higher.
  • You can transfer your pension to a different broker if you don't like your company's provider. You should check with your employer that this won't affect your pension match but it's usually possible. Some providers like Hargreaves Lansdown offer a wide range of products including leveraged and inverse ETFs etc. although their fees are still pretty high.
 

Yeah I wouldn't put everything above 100k in if I was earning 150k but for 120k yes I would. Sucks to hear yours is a rip-off, ours is Standard Life and can select a Passive Global Equity fund or Passive World ex UK fund for a total cost of 0.12% per year which is very cheap in terms of fees, I know some of them are a total scam and charge        1-2% per year. The pension relief tax advantages are very good as well

 

Yes. Most firms allow you to 'salary sacrifice' your bonus directly into your pension. You should raise this with your HR / Payroll team when bonus season approaches.

 

Yeah I wanted to see if it was possible to auto "salary sacrifice" just the bonus to the extent that my "new" all-in salary becomes 100k but lets say I get a crap bonus and I'm under 100k all-in because markets are shit then I don't want to sacrifice any of it - iygm. I was told that our normal pension operates under a "net pay" arrangement but cheers will approach it with them when the time comes around  

 

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