Pension advice

[snoozymum]

Hi

I'm trying to start looking at ways of decreasing the amount of tax DH pays as he is a high rate tax payer.

I am currently a SAHM. I have about 10 years of work-related pension for myself plus whatever state pension I'll get for being a layabout since having kids;) If I set up a pension for myself, that DH pays for, can he then declare it on his self-assessment form and get tax back.

Have we left it too late to do anything it this year or do you think I could scrape something through.

Unfortunately I think you can only buy a pension for yourself. I don't think you can buy pension for someone else to decrease your income. Your husband can decrease his taxable income by paying for a larger pension for himself, childcare vouchers etc. I am not a financial adviser though so I might be wrong.....

If he pays for your pension he doesn't get tax relief but YOU do - and even if you don't have any income he can pay up to £2,880 a year and this is topped up to £3,600 with basic rate relief even though you don't pay tax.

That's not going to avoid any HR tax though.

If all your DH's income is from employment there isn't a lot of scope really, otherwise get an accountant.

AFAIK anyone can pay your pension contributions (we looked into setting up pensions for DC), but I don't know whether you can claim tax back from the contributions if it's not your own pension.

In any case you wouldn't get one set up now by year end.

You could do an ISA though.

Is he making all the deductions he can (eg for working at home, expenses etc)?

Ok, that wouldn't work then. I don't think its feasible to set up anything this tax year but hoping that I can be better organised for next year. So if he pays into a pension for me, will he be able to do this as a salary sacrifice?

We are looking into getting an accountant but would like to have an idea of things in my own head too rather than just being some dumb wife spending her husbands money. We've used them in the past for self-assessment as we've been living in different countries crossing different tax years but never used one for financial planning-type stuff.

So far I've maxed out his ISA and topped up mine. I keep any savings in my name. He doesn't get any expenses or work from home etc... We have used Gift Aid a few times this year - am I right in thinking we should put these on his self-assessment form?

Thanks

So if he pays into a pension for me, will he be able to do this as a salary sacrifice?

Some employers and their pension schemes have allowed this, however the Chancellor announced in this week's budget that this loophole will be closed from 2012/13.