OVER the next few years, thousands will find themselves paying more tax and National Insurance (NI), writes Teresa Hunter. Particularly badly bit will be anyone who loses their job and is paid off. Their lump sum could be hit by 53% tax. Here are 10 ways to beat the budget blues:
Pensions Pensions are among the best ways to shelter income from tax, as contributions are taken from pre-taxed earnings. In other words, the taxman currently gives back £20 to a basic rate taxpayer for every £100 he invests and £4
0 to a higher rate taxpayer.
Anyone who could find themselves facing much higher rates of tax after 2010 or 2011 might consider delaying pension contributions this year to double up in the future.
However, Andrew Jupp, head of tax at Tenon, is nervous about recommending anyone delays saving into their pension, because so much uncertainty still remains over precise arrangements for 2010. He said: "Delaying pension contributions only works if tax relief is allowed at 45%. That is yet to be confirmed."
Individual Savings AccountsIt will become even more important to shelter your investments from income tax. Currently you can invest £7,200 annually in an Isa, £3,600 of which can be in deposits at a bank or building society.
National Savings Certificates These are tax free, and you can opt for either fixed rate or index-linked versions.
Salary sacrifice One way to mitigate both NI contributions and tax is ask your employer if you can forgo salary in return from some other non-taxable benefit, such as child care vouchers or additional pension contributions. This could be particularly valuable for sheltering a redundancy lump sum.
From 2009 the NI deduction on earnings from £40,040 to £43,875 will increase from 1% to 11%. But from 2011 all NI contributions will climb again by a further 0.5%.
Similarly from 2010 the personal allowance starts to be withdrawn for anyone earning more than £100,000. At earnings of £145,000 from 2011 income tax rises to 45%, while the claw back of personal allowance plus higher NI contributions will push stoppages up to 53%.
It may therefore reward some employees not to accept a pay rise, but to ask their employer for a salary sacrifice arrangement. As they will not receive payment for their services via their wage packet this not only saves them tax and NI, but will also save their employer 13.3% NI which he would otherwise also have to pay. Many will also donate part or all of this to the employee's alternative preferred benefit.
Punter Southall adviser Jerry McLoughlin said: "In theory an employee can swap salary for a very wide range of benefits, but only pensions, childcare vouchers and bikes to work are tax free.
"Other benefits are taxed on their value as a benefit in kind. So it takes careful planning to make sure that what you save by way of income tax from salary sacrifice isn't handed back as a tax on benefits in kind."
Employees should also remember that if they sacrifice salary they could forgo other salary-linked perks such as redundancy pay linked to wages, or death in service benefits. However, this can normally be overcome by tweaking your contract of employment.
Similarly, anyone considering these arrangements should take advice over how it might impact on their state earnings-linked pension.
Despite all this, salary sacrifice can prove particularly valuable for sheltering redundancy lump sums, especially for anyone who loses their job as they approach 50.
Not only will it allow them to shelter any pay-off above £30,000 from tax and NI, you can currently withdraw 25% of any pension investment out as a cash-free lump sum at the age of 50, although this concession will only be available from 55 after April 2010.
Bonuses If you know you are due a bonus it makes sense to bring the payment forward, if possible, so it is taxed at lower rates.
Company directors and the self-employedAccountants are likely to spend the next few weeks and months devising means for owners of small businesses to mitigate future tax bills.
Essentially company directors might be advised to take a smaller salary from the business, and leave other profits within the company, which they can then realise when they retire and sell, and pay lower rates of tax.
However, Leonie Kerswill, a tax expert at PWC, warns there is no get out of jail free card. She said: "Profits left in the business will still be subject to corporation tax, although this will be lower than the top rate of income tax."
Towry Law technical manager Michael Greenwood adds: "If profits are taken as dividends they will still be taxed at the high personal income rates."
Zero dividend investmentsWith income tax rising for many, while capital gains only attract an 18% charge, swapping investment income for capital will be the name of the game, as Chancellor Alistair Darling tips the balance away from income-generating investments to ones producing capital gains.
Once prices finally bottom, property may start to look attractive again, as price rises are only subject to capital gains tax.
After that zero dividend preference shares, which do not pay an income, could be considered, along with the capital shares of split capital investment trusts.
Check out the Far EastSimilarly there are various sectors which pay much lower if any dividends, and funds in these regions may start to look more attractive.
Bryan Johnston, a director at Brewin Dolphin, advises looking at the Far East. He said: "Areas such as Latin America, India, the Pacific basin and the Far East are not as wedded to dividend payments as we are, so the dividends tend to be much lower on these funds.
"Arguably these are anyway areas where we are hoping to see growth in the future, so it will pay to have an exposure."
However, he says stocks in these areas can be volatile.
Employee share schemes Employer share schemes can also act as tax havens. For example, with share incentive schemes, an employer can give staff £3,000 worth of shares free from tax or NI annually.
On top of that staff can buy a further £1,500 worth or 10% of their salary, which the employer can match, all free from tax and NI, provided the investments are held for five years.
Similarly, up to £30,000 of share options can be awarded annually with tax and NI advantages.
Other tax shelters Venture Capital Trusts and Enterprise Investment Schemes also offer tax shelters. Essentially you can get back 30% of your investment into a VCT and 20% from an EIS.
Both are designed to encourage enterprise, and invest in small unquoted companies, so are high risk. However, you can spread your risk by investing in a managed EIS portfolio.
