RECOVERING THE PERSONAL ALLOWANCE

 

Individuals with taxable income of more than £100,000 lose £1 of personal allowance for every £2 earned.   This means that any individual whose income exceeds £120,000 in the tax year 2014/15 effectively loses their entire personal allowance (£10,000).  This can be offset by paying a pension contribution.

Example:

In 2014/15 Boris has income of £120,000 all of which consists of earnings and interest.  He is considering making a £20,000 gross pension contribution.  Depending upon whether he makes the pension contribution or not, his tax bill would be as follows:

	No Pension Contribution	Pension Contribution
Gross Income	£120,000	£120,000
Pension Contribution	£0	£20,000
Personal Allowance	£0	£10,000
Taxable Income	£120,000	£90,000
Basic Rate Tax	£31,866 @ 40% = £6,373	£31,866 @ 40% = £6,373
Higher Rate Tax	£88,034 @ 40% = £35,253	£58,134 @ 40% = £23,253
Total Tax	£41,626	£29,626

Thus a gross pension contribution of £20,000 will save Boris £12,000 in tax, an effective 60% rate of relief.

If you wish to discuss making a pension contribution, please contact Ward Williams Financial Services Ltd on 01932 830664 or email wwfs@wardwilliams.co.uk.

www.wardwilliamsfs.co.uk 

“The State will look after me”

A lot of people assume that if they suffer an accident, sickness or disability that stops them from working, the State will step in to help. Have you compared your current annual income with what you could expect to receive from the State? At present, someone aged over 25 who was earning £35,000 per annum before disability, can expect to receive state benefits of approximately £4,900 per annum*. That’s only around 14% of the previous salary.....

Ø  ....could you live on just 14% of your current salary ? What sacrifices would you be prepared to make ?

Ø  ....and could you survive financially for the first 13 weeks after an accident or sickness?, when the Work Capability Assessment Benefit, will be the lower amount of only £72.40 per week*.

If the answer is no then you potentially have an income protection need that we can help you with.

Please call us on 01932 830664 to speak to one of our Financial Advisers.

*Source: GOV.UK

Who will be affected by the new Pension rules?

This may seem like a simple question, however there are a number of statistics* that mean sensible advice is required to make use of the additional flexibility afforded to individuals in Money Purchase Pension Schemes.

• The UK population is growing but is still aging;

• The number of people aged 65 and over reached £1.1m in mid 2013;

• This represents 17.4% of the UK population;

• The life expectancy of a male aged 65 today is 85 years and 3 months;

• The life expectancy of a female aged 65 today is 87 years and 9 months.

To put it simply – you are a long-time retired, so planning, that is both reflective of your circumstances and aligned with your objectives, is therefore paramount to an enjoyable retirement.

For more information please visit www.wardwilliamsfs.co.uk or call us on 01932 830664.

*Source: New Model Adviser July 2014

New ISA (NISA) comes into force from today

From 1 July, ISAs will become New ISAs (NISA).

The ISA annual allowance will increase to £15,000 in cash, stocks and shares or any combination of the two.

Under the NISA rules you will also be able to transfer previous years’ ISA savings freely between stocks and shares and cash if you wish.

Things to note if you have already opened a Cash ISA or Stocks & Shares ISA in the current tax year

• Any subscriptions you have made to an ISA since 6 April 2014 will count against the £15,000 NISA subscription limit for 2014-15;

• If you have paid into a Cash or Stocks & Shares ISA since 6 April 2014, you will not be able to open a further NISA of the same type before 6 April 2015;

• You may however make additional payments – up to the £15,000 NISA subscription limit - into your existing account(s) or by transferring those account(s) to another provider that will allow additional amounts to be added.

Junior ISAs

From 1 July the amount that can be paid into a Junior ISA for 2014-15 will increase from £3,720 to £4,000.

If you wish to discuss investing new monies into an ISA or your existing ISAs, please contact Ward Williams Financial Services Ltd on 01932 830664 or email wwfs@wardwilliams.co.uk.