Reply to: Is there an umbrella company where you can choose your pension and other benefits?

[simes1]

ER/EE split irrelevant with salary-exchange pension contributions?

Well Im paying employer contributions via danbro....

Avoid danbro at the moment. They made a monumental **** up a few months ago and havent recovered yet.

Thanks for the warning re Danbro.

There's an additional wrinkle I'd not appreciated when I first posted. Some umbrella companies appear to use salary-exchange for pension's deductions (Atlantic and Crystal do not) and when this is the case the ER/EE split appears to be irrelevant as far as tax reduction is concerned as both contributions reduce the ER NI. Danbro appears to be one of these, Contractor Umbrella is another, I can't get a straight answer out of Parasol.

Out of interest what is the ratio between your current Danbro ER and EE contributions? [The income assessment for a means-tested bursary for my son appears to be reduced by ER pension contributions but not EE ones so it's still relevant for me.]

[psychocandy]

Strange - Danbro told me I could save employee tax and NI but not employer NI. I'm used to being able to control the employer contributions (100%Er/0%Ee or 99%Er/1%Ee but Atlantic have said this will not be possible after a change of pension provider (Scottish Widows -> The Nest) and the implementation of a new payroll system.

I've yet to find anyone else that definitely does this - are you sure Danbro allows you to reclaim the employer NI? Perhaps only on the statutory auto-enrolment employer minimum contribution?

Well Im paying employer contributions via danbro....

Avoid danbro at the moment. They made a monumental **** up a few months ago and havent recovered yet.

[simes1]

DANBRO will do it.

Can pay what you want into pension scheme as salary sacrifice so savings on NI and tax. They also do salary sacrifice childcare vouchers.

Also, only £17 a week.

Strange - Danbro told me I could save employee tax and NI but not employer NI. I'm used to being able to control the employer contributions (100%Er/0%Ee or 99%Er/1%Ee but Atlantic have said this will not be possible after a change of pension provider (Scottish Widows -> The Nest) and the implementation of a new payroll system.

I've yet to find anyone else that definitely does this - are you sure Danbro allows you to reclaim the employer NI? Perhaps only on the statutory auto-enrolment employer minimum contribution?

[lucyclarityumbrella]

Hi Lucy,
I would like to chat about this option please. Who is your pension provider?

Scottish Widows - for more info click here.

[JamesC34]

Hi GDL

If you are looking at Pensions, then you would have to use the Group Pension Scheme operated by the chosen umbrella. You can only gain the salary sacrifice element if you use their provider. If you are looking to make payments into an existing pension scheme you would then have to declare these via self-assessment but I think this then means that won't gain the NI benefit. As for other benefits, nowadays via a brolly this is very limited, to pensions, childcare vouchers and GAYE... Best benefit you will get from a brolly is how well they will look after you

If you want a chat - do let me know!

Hi Lucy,
I would like to chat about this option please. Who is your pension provider?

[Finalwhistle]

NEST

I've just been enrolled into NEST on minimum contributions so about to ask them (umbrella.co.uk - didn't choose them - limited list of bad/have-to-do eggs) if I can contribute more. What's AVC I wanted to ask? Also, how do I know whether I'm better off going through them to increase pension pot or just sticking my cash in premium bonds until I'm in a perm role somewhere?! I telephoned them and it looks like any contribution into nest comes straight from my wage and they don't add anything. I suppose that's standard under a brolly, but I'm just trying to get to grips with it all...

I've just gone brolly...there is tax releif on pension contributions just like ltd company which is good. My brolly company let me submit whatever I like as it doesn't matter to them. they get the flat weekly fee regardless of how you get paid. my brolly company also let me choose a pensions provider. However i just wonder why they are all choosing NEST? has anyone researched them? are they any good?

[lucyclarityumbrella]

I telephoned them and it looks like any contribution into nest comes straight from my wage and they don't add anything. I suppose that's standard under a brolly, but I'm just trying to get to grips with it all...

If it's salary sacrifice, then the Employers Contribution is deemed to come from the contract rate before your taxable salary is arrived at, so you should see both figures shown on your payslip. As psychocandy said if it is done in this way you will see the tax and NI savings

[psychocandy]

I've just been enrolled into NEST on minimum contributions so about to ask them (umbrella.co.uk - didn't choose them - limited list of bad/have-to-do eggs) if I can contribute more. What's AVC I wanted to ask? Also, how do I know whether I'm better off going through them to increase pension pot or just sticking my cash in premium bonds until I'm in a perm role somewhere?! I telephoned them and it looks like any contribution into nest comes straight from my wage and they don't add anything. I suppose that's standard under a brolly, but I'm just trying to get to grips with it all...

Do you have to go with them?

If you pay AVC, its basically a personal contribution but you get to save tax on it.

If its done as salary sacrifice/employer contribution you save employer ni, employee ni, AND tax. So much better.

[Flips]

AVC?

All you brolly users - do you manage to pay more than the minimum into pension via brolly?

Seems an ideal opportunity to me. Why not pay in more to save tax/NI?

Trouble is my existing brolly (Sterling- crap) only do the minimum into NEST. Other than that they only do AVCs (which negates any NI saving). I've asked a few others and it seems to be a common theme - i.e. we do the minimum because we have to by law but we're not really interested in doing anything else.

I've just been enrolled into NEST on minimum contributions so about to ask them (umbrella.co.uk - didn't choose them - limited list of bad/have-to-do eggs) if I can contribute more. What's AVC I wanted to ask? Also, how do I know whether I'm better off going through them to increase pension pot or just sticking my cash in premium bonds until I'm in a perm role somewhere?! I telephoned them and it looks like any contribution into nest comes straight from my wage and they don't add anything. I suppose that's standard under a brolly, but I'm just trying to get to grips with it all...

[eek]

IR35 is the test for a LtdCo
SDC is the test for a brolly

And the public sector test for whether a contract is subject to IR35 is mainly based on SDC...

[mudskipper]

Im having a mental block now. I thought if your PS client declared you inside IR35 then that was it - no expenses?

IR35 is the test for a LtdCo
SDC is the test for a brolly

[psychocandy]

DANBRO will do it.

Can pay what you want into pension scheme as salary sacrifice so savings on NI and tax. They also do salary sacrifice childcare vouchers.

Also, only £17 a week.

[lucyclarityumbrella]

See if this helps http://forums.contractoruk.com/umbre...allowable.html

[psychocandy]

Send them across to trawl through the ITEPA that should keep them busy for some time!

HMRC confirmed to us that if you are inside you are highly unlikely not to be caught by SDC but there may be the very slightest chance [emoji51] best speak direct with HMRC they are the only ones that can give a definitive answer!

Im having a mental block now. I thought if your PS client declared you inside IR35 then that was it - no expenses?

[lucyclarityumbrella]

Send them across to trawl through the ITEPA that should keep them busy for some time!

HMRC confirmed to us that if you are inside you are highly unlikely not to be caught by SDC but there may be the very slightest chance [emoji51] best speak direct with HMRC they are the only ones that can give a definitive answer!