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Yes you can do it and for any amount you want (subject to pension input limits).
But all subject to your employer agreeing.
Others may comment on the wisdom of such action but that wasn’t the question, so I won’t.
You will need to act quickly if you need your employers to change payroll - they may have already done February, which means only March can be changed.
You cannot 'backdate' this, so you need to impress on the employer the need to get March correct.
But, yes, paying into your pension - whether by salary sacrifice or by normal contributions, reduces your adjusted income for HICBC rules.
Keep it simple.
Claim child benefit but tell them not to pay it to you. That protects your other rights.
The child benefit for 3 children was about £2500 for 2016/17. If you reduce your mortgage payment to £500 and give the other £300 a month to your wife. Obviously this is not financial advice. You need to talk to an IFA to see what is best for you really.
Once child benefit has been claimed then the wife is eligible for state pension entitlements, this is not lost if the couple choose not to receive it at a later date, it does not need to be claimed each year if this is what you are suggesting.
Anyway taxpayers in Rob's position with income potentially below £60k should not disclaim it, since, if they want to claim it in the future any benefit can only be claimed prospectively.
Rob, if you have spare cash then you can put it into a personal pension before 5 April, it does not have to be an employer scheme. I am not a financial adviser either but it would be tax efficient given the high effective tax rate between £50k and £60k - I make it 67%.
Pay £10k into a pension to save £6.7k in tax (so if you didn't you would only get £3.3k net).
Hi Matrix. Remembering the major media fuss a couple of years ago when the number of people who had stopped or had been put off raised a spectre of negligent advice.
There is no useful info I can find to hand on gov.uk but it is the claiming of the child benefit which gives rise to the state pension entitlement (when a baby is born). Stopping the child benefit, so electing not to receive the cash, has no impact on the fact that a claim was made.
The short answer is yes, pension payments will reduce your income for the purpose of HICB.
You need to speak to your financial adviser about how much you should pay. Financial advisers are pretty busy at this time of the year, so book that appointment now.
If you have three kids, your marginal rate between £50k and £60k is around 67%, so a tidy Government subsidy to anything you shell out.
Yes.
Another point to note is that, if you're only entitled to part of the Child Benefit, you have to claim it all and then send part of it back via the HICB system. Sounds crazy - but the Child Benefit folk won't deal with partial claims. It's all or nothing.
We are telling you that it is a good idea in principle, it will probably give you back your full child benefit and save tax. But we do not know everything about your circumstances and a personal financial adviser will run through your specific income and expenditure situation to make sure you can afford the pension contributions, that you realise the money will be tied up probably till age 55 or later.
S/he will also check whether there are an other considerations, beyond tax and child benefit, to be taken into account.
Best of luck, certainly worth putting time into investigating it further.
Stick with the salary sacrifice and either bump up contributions through increasing the sacrifice for March & the future (remembering the Minimum Wage rules may not allow you to pay in enough that way for this year in March alone) and top up with a personal payment to get you across the line for this year.
Pension input rules may be an issue but you probably have unused relief in the previous three years that can cover that. Your IFA can review & advise on that.
Yes you will need to factor in medical insurance and any other personal income for the year to get you below £50k
Put in enough to get you below the HR band to BR only and your spouse can elect to transfer 10% of her personal allowance to you as well
Without commenting specifically on your situation, salary sacrifice is usually worth doing if you can, as long as your pension fund does not breach your annual or lifetime allowance after future growth
Ask HR whether you are eligible to financial advice (perhaps once a year) as a member of your company's pension scheme. Or HR themselves may be able to give you some advice as they know your personal circumstances.
just to add to my topic above i spoke to a independant account today abotu the HIBC and he said tba i think HRMC have you bang to rights and said there probably isnt anything he coudl do for me.
Why don't you write to your MP ?
Especially if he/she is a Tory in a marginal constituency.
Ask him/her if your perception that HMRC are deliberately entrapping honest but unwary taxpayers with huge penalties is their official policy, as you didn't notice it in their manifesto.
The more people who write in, the more they'll see penalties as a vote-loser.