24 October 2018
How much can you contribute to your pension from dividends?
A recent ""Tax Question of the Week"" from Croner Taxwise, posed a question we often get asked by our clients, about how much you can contribute to your pension from dividends. Read on for a good overview from Croner's Tax Advisor, Amaira Badat.
Tax Question of the Week: My client takes most of their funds from the company via dividends. How much can they and/or the company contribute to their pension?
When an individual contributes to their pension, they must ensure that the amount they contribute is less than 100% of their ‘relevant UK earnings’ for that tax year or £3,600 (£2,880 net). Any personal contributions made above that amount will not get any tax relief. The individual must notify their pension provider if they go above this amount so the pension provider can ensure the correct amount of tax relief is claimed or refunded to HMRC.
A list of ‘relevant UK earnings’ chargeable to income tax is provided in the section entitled ‘Earnings that attract tax relief’ within the HMRC Pensions Tax Manual at PTM044100. This does not include dividends. An example of other income not included is rental income, except so far as it relates to a furnished holiday letting business.
As well as the above, the contributions made by both the employee and employer combined must not exceed the annual allowance or the lifetime allowance. If the annual allowance is exceeded, the individual must pay income tax on the excess via self-assessment. Alternatively, the individual can ask their pension provider to pay HMRC the tax out of their pension pot if the tax is more than £2,000. Apart from the Annual Allowance, there is no limit on the amount of employer contributions that can be made, subject to the usual principles of the amounts being wholly and exclusively for the purposes of trade.
The annual allowance is currently £40,000 per year. Any unused allowance from the previous three years can be added to this (subject to the transitional arrangements for the allowance within the 15/16 tax year).
However, the Annual Allowance is reduced if the individual earns both ‘threshold income’ above £110,000 and ‘adjusted income’ above £150,000. These terms are explained, and a step-by-step guide to calculating the reduced allowance is available for download. Where this tapered allowance applies, it is only the unused element of that tapered allowance that can be carried forward.
There is also a different annual allowance which applies if the individual has started to take money out of their pension pot. This is known as the ‘money purchase annual allowance’ (MPAA) and is currently £4,000. The individual’s pension provider will usually inform them when the allowance has dropped to the MPAA because of a trigger event, and the individual should then inform all their other pension scheme providers. This is a complex area and HMRC guidance can be found at PTM56500 onwards, however, specialist tax advice may need to be sought in relation to this.
The lifetime allowance is currently £1.03 million. The pension provider will notify the individual if this is exceeded (when they turn 75, take money from a pension pot or transfer the pension overseas) and will deduct the tax due on the amounts above the allowance before the pension is paid out.
To ensure that client suffer no unexpected tax charges, it is recommended to keep accurate records of all pension schemes, and the amounts contributed to these pension. This will also help determine the amount of unused annual allowance available when deciding to make larger contributions in any particular tax year.
The above is only a starting point, as each area must be looked at in more detail. HMRC has useful guidance on pension tax.
This article first appeared on Croner Taxwise - Tax Question of the Week: Pensions.
For advice on pensions contributions from dividends...
Contact our expert tax team on 0115 964 8888 or email enquiries@rwbca.co.uk today.
The views provided in this article are for general information purposes only. Nothing in this article represents advice of any nature whatsoever. Accordingly, RWB CA Limited does not accept any liability or responsibility for the information contained in this article or any decision or other action that may be taken in reliance upon the information contained within it. RWB CA Limited accepts no responsibility for any errors of fact or opinion and assumes no obligation to provide you with any changes to its assumptions.