Hidden on payslip

[dbddbS]

I am suspicious (and have some evidence) that my SO is not disclosing or sharing income, even when we have talked about it, and when I've asked to see payslips there has been real resistance and excuses about how different types of businesses/organisation work.

Are pension contributions, whether employee's or employer's, ALWAYS listed on payslips?
Are there any other pre-tax deductions that are ALWAYS listed on payslips? (eg Charitable donations)

As far as I am aware, anything deducted has to be shown. So if it isn’t shown it hasn’t been deducted.

DH pays into his pension both ways. A regular amount deducted on his pay slip and then a lump sum by bank tf if we have any spare cash at the end of the tax year.

Employer's pension contributions are not shown on payslips, only the employee's contributions are deducted from your pay, so only those are shown.

Are pension contributions, whether employee's or employer's, ALWAYS listed on payslips?

It depends!

Workplace pensions - which might have the employee paying into them, as well as the employer - would show the employee's pension contribution, but not the employer's.

For example, I work at Company A. If I put in up to 4% of my salary into the workplace pension, they match it.

On my payslip, it shows I was paid £x gross. It also shows the 4% deduction from my gross pay. So it has another line of £x-4% showing the net (i.e. what goes into my bank account!). It wouldn't show that my employer's also popped 4% in... only my pension paperwork would show the 8% hitting the pension pot.

The employee might also contribute to their own private personal pension alongside that, or instead of. So their employer wouldn't know anything about that, because it's paid (say) by direct debit from their own bank account to their own pension provide from net salary. So that wouldn't show on a payslip of course.

Are there any other pre-tax deductions that are ALWAYS listed on payslips? (eg Charitable donations)
Could be anything, again it depends.
My employer has all sorts of things that could show up, but if it's arranged for payment by work, it would be on the payslip yes. Travel card loans, private medical insurance, i think we have some bicycle "bike to work" scheme where it's paid from your wages directly... that sort of thing.

Maybe if you're still not sure, you can be a bit more specific and we can advise...?

there has been real resistance and excuses about how different types of businesses/organisation work.

forgot to add, thing is, this is totally true.

when i first started working after uni, and friends/relatives started sharing more about how their workplace functions.. i was a bit naive about how different each job is!

some examples off the top of my head:

family member is a self employed tradesman - norm is to be a company director, pay yourself national minimum wage, benefit from the divadend payouts as "profit" (all legit)

another friend is a nanny, she's on some wierd contract where she talks about her NET pay not gross - no one mentioned that to me about how nannies work!

another friend's son is an employed contractor at a large corporate/global company, they get paid every 4 weeks (yes, 4th week, not monthly, despite being a normal office job) and it's via an umbrella company where the umbrella takes a fee every payroll for providing basic services

then there's me in a bog standard boring normal salaried job

neighbour is a hair dresser who "rents" her chair from the salan, she pays a basic fee plus card terminal bank fees but then she keeps the rest of the "profit" and i guess this makes her self employed?

hair dresser's husband is an employed tradesman but he has to buy his own tools (for work!), pays for his accommodation himself if he works away, and doesn't even really get anything other than the basic sick pay despite working in dangerous conditions, it's crap.

so yes, i think your statement (even if it's coming from a partner you can't trust) is totally accurate.

Is he telling you there are deductions not shown on his payslip or is he telling you a tale you don’t believe about what the deductions are for?

If you don't believe what he says he is receiving can you not check that to what is received into his/your bank account? Or is he secretive about that too?

Thanks for all the input. All very useful.

I don't have access to the bank accounts in question, and there has been real reluctance to show payslips. (I get told that if I'm demanding to see payslips, it's me that should be more trusting.) The big question at the moment is as much about shared income and and whether it is getting shared equally.

Pensions is one question - how much is going into whose pension. Some is apparently being made from net salary, which sounds possible, but effects what is available to go into mine. (There are other excuses that have gone along side this.)

I suspect there are also charitable donations being made before tax which, whilst I don't object to in principal, if they are being made from "family" income effectively reduce the income that is being shared with the family.

There are other things that fall under "can't remember" or are just getting glossed over, possibly to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds spread over several years, and it all just adds up to a picture of someone who knows they have been unfair and doesn't want to admit it. (There are obviously harsher ways to interpret the evidence as well.)

would getting access to his HMRC data help? you can check national insurnace contributions, tax allowance, PAYE income all online, but you have to go through a ridiculous online access setup to get into it (involving passcodes being sent out in the physical post by letter, although i registered a couple of years ago and it may have improved)

www.gov.uk/log-in-register-hmrc-online-services

for example, there i can see what pension relief i get because i pay into a pension net (higher rate tax payers can claim relief on top if they're paying into a personal pension.. so, say i pay a grand into my personal pension directly from my bank account, i tell HMRC and i get a £1k tax allowance boost)

i can also see missing nat insurance years , that sort of thing

it might help with some of the transparency that you're not getting?

(no one i know that i mention the online gov services to has ever heard of it, so apologies if you're already looking into that option)

suspect there are also charitable donations being made before tax

BEFORE tax? so as part of some sort of salary sacrifice thing via his employer? (i suspect you mean the Payroll Giving scheme?)
that would surely be on payslips, listed as a deduction?
no employer i've ever worked at would not list that.

sorry forgot to link, payroll giving details here: www.gov.uk/payroll-giving

(it's a tax efficient way to give away cash to charity because it's admin'd by PAYE systems so you pay no tax/NI on the bit you've given away.. sort of like a salary sacrifice pension)

My payslips do show the amount paid by employer into my pension (made up of my contribution and theirs)
It's a memo at the bottom as it's not an actual deduction.

Thanks. All really useful.