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Tapered annual allowance meaning

Published by a LexisNexis Family expert
What does Tapered annual allowance mean?
Tapered annual allowance describes the UK pensions tax mechanism that progressively reduces an individual’s annual allowance for pension saving once statutory income thresholds are exceeded, potentially triggering an annual allowance charge. It is provided for in the Finance Act 2004 and explained in HMRC’s Pensions Tax Manual. From 6 April 2023, the standard annual allowance is £60,000. If threshold income exceeds £200,000 and adjusted income exceeds £260,000, the allowance reduces by £1 for every £2 of adjusted income above £260,000, to a minimum tapered annual allowance of £10,000. Before 2020/21 the adjusted income threshold was £150,000; in 2020/21 it rose to £240,000 (with a £4,000 minimum), and from 2023/24 the adjusted income threshold is £260,000 and the minimum is £10,000. Adjusted income includes all taxable income plus pension contributions (including employer and salary sacrifice), while threshold income broadly excludes pension contributions. The taper applies to both defined contribution inputs and defined benefit accrual (measured as the pension input amount). Carry forward of unused allowance from the three previous tax years may mitigate any charge. Usage and rules are uniform across England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The concept is not used in Irish pensions tax law, which instead applies an earnings...
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View the related News about Tapered annual allowance

NEWS
April 2024 update for employment lawyers: holiday pay for irregular workers, day-one flexible working, family leave reforms, NMW rises, tribunal limits and Vento bands, VAT, NICs and pensions changes

Summary of changes From 1 April 2024: new rules for calculating holiday entitlement and pay for irregular hours and part‑year workers (including 12.07% accrual and an option to use rolled‑up holiday pay); annual National Living Wage/National Minimum Wage uplift and removal of the live‑in domestic worker exemption; higher Agricultural Minimum Wage rates in Wales; and increased VAT registration (£90,000) and deregistration (£88,000) limits. From 6 April 2024: flexible working becomes a day‑one right with revised processes and an updated Acas Code; paternity leave/pay reformed so two separate one‑week blocks can be taken within the first year; introduction of unpaid carer’s leave; extended redundancy protection during pregnancy and for a period after family leave; Employment Tribunal rule changes and higher compensation caps; uplifted Vento bands; higher SSP; Class 1 main employee NIC cut to 8% while weekly thresholds (including the £123 LEL) remain static; veterans’ employer NIC relief extended; van benefit and car/van fuel benefits frozen; higher high income child benefit charge threshold with tapered application; and...

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View the related Practice Notes about Tapered annual allowance

PRACTICE NOTES
UK family law tax essentials: income tax, CGT on separation/divorce, IHT, SDLT/LBTT/LTT, stamp duty and council tax

This Practice Note outlines the key rules for taxing income, capital gains, lifetime gifts and estates on death (inheritance tax), together with stamp duty land tax, on the basis of an individual who is UK-resident and domiciled. As tax legislation is frequently amended, this note is not, and must not be, treated as a replacement for specific professional advice where required. Income tax Individuals are charged to income tax on their overall income, with distinct regimes applying to different income streams and to qualifying outgoings that can be set against that income. The main categories of income include: pay from employment, or profits from a trade, profession or vocation (on which national insurance contributions are also due) rents from furnished or unfurnished property or land interest and dividend receipts overseas income (which may already have suffered foreign tax) A personal allowance is deducted from an individual’s total income before calculating the tax, provided their annual income (after deductions for...

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PRACTICE NOTES
UK pensions tax: annual allowance (standard, tapered and MPAA), calculations and charges, carry forward, pension input periods, Scheme Pays, deferred member carve-out, and 2015/16 transitional rules

FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT : Under section 10 of the Finance Act 2022, the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) is set to rise from 55 to 57 with effect from 6 April 2028, excluding members of the public service schemes for firefighters, police and the armed forces. It also introduces a right for members of registered pension arrangements to access benefits before 57 where, on or before 4 November 2021, they already held an ‘unqualified right’ to do so, or were actively transferring to a scheme that, by that date, offered an unqualified right to a protected pension age below 57. To rely on this 2028 protection, the scheme’s rules must have, as at 11 February 2021, conferred an unqualified right to draw scheme benefits before age 57. For more detail, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) to 57—pensions impact...

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PRACTICE NOTES
Pensions glossary for family and matrimonial finance lawyers: schemes, tax reliefs, state pension, auto-enrolment, offsetting, PPF, valuation, drawdown and post-2024 lifetime allowance changes

A-day 'A-day' is the widely used term for the broad pension tax 'simplification' reforms that began on 6 April 2006. The changes covered: how much pension contribution was allowed, the kinds of schemes an individual could invest in, the sums that could be taken (and when), and the choices available for any remaining fund. A-day also introduced the annual allowance and the (now abolished) lifetime allowance. See: Annual allowance and Lifetime allowance. AFPS AFPS: Armed forces pension scheme; see Practice Note: Public sector pensions and family proceedings. Accrual rate The speed at which pension benefits build as pensionable service is completed in a final salary scheme, eg 1/60 for each year of pensionable service. Accrued benefits The benefits earned in respect of service up to a specified date. Added years Extra pension provided by adding further years of pensionable service in a salary-related scheme. Such additional years are secured via transfer payments or through additional voluntary contributions/augmentation...

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