Reply to: Recommend me a company pension

[ctdctd]

You can have mine if you want. It's worth less than the annual Pensions Regulator contributions.

No ta - but maybe you can transfer it into a personal pension and invest it yourself - Boooooooooomed ............... possibly!

[ctdctd]

You should make absolutely sure that the pension provider understands it's a company contribution. If they misunderstood and presumed it was a personal contribution they would reclaim basic rate income tax on that amount and credit that to the pension too once it arrived. I could see how that misunderstanding could then cause HMRC to say it was a personal contribution that your company was paying as a BIK.

That sounds reasonable - Hargreaves Lansdown only take company contributions via a Direct Debit or cheque from company account.

[RichardCranium]

Recommend me a company pension

You can have mine if you want. It's worth less than the annual Pensions Regulator contributions.

[Hex]

My personal view is that if the company makes the contributions they are corporate. However I was involved in a discussion where a poster suggested it wasn't necessarily as clear cut as that, I can't remember the reasons and it took a long time for the penny to drop but if you do a search it should be easy enough to find.

You should make absolutely sure that the pension provider understands it's a company contribution. If they misunderstood and presumed it was a personal contribution they would reclaim basic rate income tax on that amount and credit that to the pension too once it arrived. I could see how that misunderstanding could then cause HMRC to say it was a personal contribution that your company was paying as a BIK.

[ASB]

How do you do that then?
I have a SIPP in my name and myco makes contributions out of its profits.

My personal view is that if the company makes the contributions they are corporate. However I was involved in a discussion where a poster suggested it wasn't necessarily as clear cut as that, I can't remember the reasons and it took a long time for the penny to drop but if you do a search it should be easy enough to find.

[Fred Bloggs]

Should you decide to invest in say an index tracker there are a few very cheap ones around for pensions

I encourage you to look for the small number of super star active fund managers. They are not difficult to find and will be 99% certain to outperform a tracker. Here's a starter for 10 - Phillip Gibbs, Robin Geffen, Robin Buxton. Do a bit of your own research put your money with a few of these guys and you'll not regret it.

[ctdctd]

- Be absolutely certain that the contributions being made are company contributions not the company making personal contributions on you behalf

How do you do that then?
I have a SIPP in my name and myco makes contributions out of its profits.

[ASB]

Personally I would have the following concerns.

- The overall amount contributed. Whilst current IR guidance is such that any level of contribution is allowable for the purposes of trade I would think they might at least try to kick up a bit. Current guidance has been posted up on a couple of occasions.

- Be absolutely certain that the contributions being made are company contributions not the company making personal contributions on you behalf

- Consider the possibility of the lifetime cap

- Should you decide to invest in say an index tracker there are a few very cheap ones around for pensions

[rootsnall]

planning to do something similar i.e low salary/small divi/expenses and rest in SIPP

however spoke to H-L and they said that although there is a technical limit of 250k that your Ltd co can contribute, it must not be deemed excessive by HMRC...

anyone know what is deemed to be excessive ?

I think the IR could challenge it if your total of salary + Ltd pension contribution ( say 6K and 44K = 50K ) was more than a permie would get in salary for your role. So the 50K total would be OK but if you grossed 100K for the year and paid 95K into a pension that may not be OK !?

ps. if only I could earn 100K gross again

[bollox]

Google is confusing me so:-

Contracting through one man band Ltd.
Have sufficient personal funds so won't need to draw more tha
n the personal allowance from the company.
I'm in my late forties

Plan is to put everything beyond personal allowance + expenses into a pension - then I save on corporation tax and don't need to worry about IR35.

I don't do accountants or IFA's unless I have to so want a pension I can manage myself - something like the Hargreaves Lansdown or Barclays SIPP's but funded via the Ltd.

Any suggestions?

planning to do something similar i.e low salary/small divi/expenses and rest in SIPP

however spoke to H-L and they said that although there is a technical limit of 250k that your Ltd co can contribute, it must not be deemed excessive by HMRC...

anyone know what is deemed to be excessive ?

[GreenerGrass]

Another vote for H-L, I've found them superb so far. Your only issue might be the amount of post they send you. But you won't need an IFA.

It makes a change from the cryptic letters Scottish Widows used to send once a year.

[scooterscot]

What? Something I said?

[Fred Bloggs]

Thanks for all the replies so far.
Looks like the consensus is H-L so that is who it will be!

I already have (small) pension pots with a couple of other providers so the load is spread.

That covers the basic pension framework - now to decide what to invest in. Personal savings are mainly cash so I'll be able to be a bit more adventurous with the SIPP. Booooomed - or possibly Doooomed

Good luck, it's a lot more difficult now since the obvious bargains of earlier in 2009 have gone up so much in value. But there's plenty of info out there in order to make informed decisions. I look for the long term good track record of the manager as much as anything else. There are some superstar managers out there who you can pretty much guarantee you get a fair return from long term.

[ctdctd]

At what age can you start withdrawing money from your pension ?

50 before April 2010, 55 afterwards

[Andy2]

Since I am now 53, I am going to draw out my 25% tax free lump sum shortly (before April 5th 2010) which will go straight into ISA's between me and Mrs Bloggs 2009 and 2010 ISA allowances. So that's that sorted. Then I'm taking a 0% draw down whilst continuing to invest into the SIPP.

At what age can you start withdrawing money from your pension ?