I'm filling out a self assessment form for the first time (using the TaxCalc program) and I'm having a little trouble understanding how tax relief to IRs works for higher-rate tax payers.
Q.I'm filling out a self assessment form for the first time (using the TaxCalc program) and I'm having a little trouble understanding how tax relief to IRs works for higher-rate tax payers. I pay pension contributions as part of my salary every month, and in my payslip I can see that this gets relief at the basic rate. I assumed that you can claim back the difference between this and the higher-rate of tax. However, Taxcalc seems to just bump up the total amount of income you pay at the basic rate by the amount of gross contributions, which, as far as I can tell, means that you're not getting the 40% relief on the whole amount. If I give an example, you'll probably be able to correct me on where I'm going wrong: Say I am contributing ?56 each month. In my payslip, I would see ?00 going to my pension account as I would get relief at 22%. Over the tax year, I would pay in ?872 net and actually get ?400 gross. However, as I understood it, a higher-rate tax-payer should actually be getting ?120 (assuming tax relief at 40% on the whole amount), so could in theory expect a refund of ?20 (3120-2400) by filling in their tax return. However, if I put these figures into TaxCalc, it only provides a refund of about ?30, and, having looked at the figures, I can see that it has worked this out by bumping up the 22% band by ?400. Can someone please explain if this is correct, and, if so, why it is done this way?
A.You actually have *Gross* contributions of ?,400pa. Hence you should, as a HRT, pay net conts of ?,440pa on this - with tax relief of ?60. [You are getting ?28 relief "at source" and so should get the extra ?32 relief in your SA.] What you are *not* doing is paying gross contributions of ?,120 - which you appear to be assuming above. I assume the contribution is to a personal pension rather than an occupational scheme. Gross contribution = ?400. Net cost to you after 40% tax relief should be: ?400 x 0.6 = ?440. Contribution to pension provider is net of tax relief at 22%: ?400 x 0.78 = ?872. Difference in tax relief to be claimed via your tax return: ?872 - ?440 = ?32.
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