allergic to HR

[WTFH]

The accurate (and definitive) position should be provedid by hmrc in my view.

Why? Unless you tell them all the details of your finances, how are they to know?
Do they hold a detailed record of your share portfolio?

Of course the cynic in me might say that they only use the info to tell you after the event when you've exceeded your allowances and have penalty tax to pay

The cynic in me would say that if you are not managing your money yourself to know when you might be getting close to exceeding allowances and having to (shock horror) pay some extra tax, then you need to learn how to manage your money better.

So granted its time to compile, check and recheck my figures

Pay a professional to do it for you. You provide them with the information and they will tell you the figures. Of course, it does mean you need to know what your own financial situation is, what is stashed where, etc. And you will have to pay them to provide that service.

[MrC]

Well, yes, it does require you to keep accurate records. I cannot see how else you would get an accurate result. The more complex your situation, the more important it becomes to document everything very carefully. Lesson learned, I guess.

The accurate (and definitive) position should be provedid by hmrc in my view.

I'm pretty sure when you complete self assessment the income for a paye roles is prefilled with the figures the employer provided to hmrc. Don't see a good reason why they can't provide similar for pension allowance as i'm sure all pension providers report to them.

Of course the cynic in me might say that they only use the info to tell you after the event when you've exceeded your allowances and have penalty tax to pay

So granted its time to compile, check and recheck my figures

[jamesbrown]

Yes, came accross this once before but while it may give you some confidence (or defence if they're wrong) against the calculations it's still reliant on accurately entering every last contribtuon from the last few years. Given multiple providers, personal and co contributions and transfers between providers this isn't as straightforward as some might think.

Don't really like the nature of the data aquisition given that I'm sure they already have the information anyway. Seems like an opportunity to dob yourself in with their psuedo lie-detector test

Well, yes, it does require you to keep accurate records. I cannot see how else you would get an accurate result. The more complex your situation, the more important it becomes to document everything very carefully. Lesson learned, I guess.

[MrC]

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/pensi...nce-calculator

Yes, came accross this once before but while it may give you some confidence (or defence if they're wrong) against the calculations it's still reliant on accurately entering every last contribtuon from the last few years. Given multiple providers, personal and co contributions and transfers between providers this isn't as straightforward as some might think.

Don't really like the nature of the data aquisition given that I'm sure they already have the information anyway. Seems like an opportunity to dob yourself in with their psuedo lie-detector test

[jamesbrown]

speaking of maxing out your current and historic (carry forward) pension annual allowance - is there an easy and robust way of working out your remaining allocation/carry forward position?

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/pensi...nce-calculator

[eek]

And no, as a employee-like worker I don't have an accountant any longer.

Yoiu also need to know the purposes of the taxes you refer to as Employer taxes and what the payment terms of those items are.

Because Income tax isn't an exployer tax it's a personal tax that is collected via PAYE for all round convenience (both for workers so they don't end up with nasty £x,000 bills come April and HMRC's).

[WTFH]

And no, as a employee-like worker I don't have an accountant any longer.

Just because you are an "employee-like worker" doesn't ban you from having an accountant. That is just ridiculous.
In fact based on this thread and the terminology you choose to invent/use in it, you need one, or at least an IFA to help you.

[Protagoras]

speaking of maxing out your current and historic (carry forward) pension annual allowance - is there an easy and robust way of working out your remaining allocation/carry forward position?

You do need to know the annual contributions from the various sources, but once you've added these up there is the option of using an on-line calculator to check one's own calculations.

e.g. https://www.hl.co.uk/pensions/contri...nce-calculator

[MrC]

speaking of maxing out your current and historic (carry forward) pension annual allowance - is there an easy and robust way of working out your remaining allocation/carry forward position?

Thus far i've resorted to keying into spreadsheet calculators and having to sum contributions to multiple pension providers from multiple employers and given the cumulative nature of the calculations a single error anywhere would likely cause the current position to be miscalulated.

I understand HMRC won't tell you your position (although presumably they know or have the means to quickly derive it).

And no, as a employee-like worker I don't have an accountant any longer.

[MrC]

Assuming by HR tax you mean Employer and Employee NI then once you've used up your annual (and historic) pension allowance nothing else is going to work.

I mean deductions of all flavours/names ie income tax, employers and employees NI, even apprentice levy, especially the rates you pay when over the 50K of gross income.

I didn't think there was anything but just rather desperately hoping i was badly informed

[eek]

Ok so first things first I'm allergic to paying HR tax.

This is a long-standing allergy I've been able to keep in check.

But recently I'm nearing maxing out my pension contributions AA and carry forward and am facing the stark reality of a mere 55% retention on the entirely of my income.

just wanted to check if there are any legit ways to mitigate HR tax that are left after pension options are exhausted?

Only thing I'm vaguely aware of is VCTs but don't know much about the pros and cons

Assuming by HR tax you mean Employer and Employee NI then once you've used up your annual (and historic) pension allowance nothing else is going to work.

[northernladuk]

Have you asked your accounant? If you do maybe make sure the subject of your email is a little clearer.

[MrC]

Ok so first things first I'm allergic to paying HR tax.

This is a long-standing allergy I've been able to keep in check.

But recently I'm nearing maxing out my pension contributions AA and carry forward and am facing the stark reality of a mere 55% retention on the entirely of my income.

just wanted to check if there are any legit ways to mitigate HR tax that are left after pension options are exhausted?

Only thing I'm vaguely aware of is VCTs but don't know much about the pros and cons