Do Umbrella Businesses Have a Pension Scheme?

{ Umbrella Company Pension Schemes — What You Want to Know |} Pension schemes assist employees put money aside for retirement straight from their wage. The problem for self help professionals is they will need to handle thisthemselves,by simply establishing a retirement strategy or saving money from their income. Fortunately,umbrella firms class contractors as employees,giving them all of the benefits of employment. That includes a retirement scheme,which nowrequires participation from the umbrella company also. Let us take a better look at the statutory retirement strategies available through umbrella companies. Auto-enrolment pensions {In 2012,the UK Government determined that workers weren’t saving enough for their retirement. |} Individuals were relying on the State Pension,that hadn’t received adequate funding to coincide with the ongoing increase in life expectancy and an ageing population. {To combat this,they introduced automatic enrolment. |} The new system,rolled from 2012 to 2018,requires companies to automatically enrol eligible employees on a workplace retirement strategy. Employers will also be responsible for deducting contributions from their pre-tax income and creating a minimal statutory contribution to the employee’s savings. In October 2012,this minimal contribution was set to 1 percentage for employees,that was matched by companies,rising in 2018: October 2012 to 5th April 2018: companies 1%,employees 1 percent 6th April 2018 to 5th April 2019: companies 2 percent,employees 3% 6th April 2019 onwards: employers 3 percent,employees 5 percent However for anyone that does not need to contribute to a retirement as soon as you’re registered it is still possible to opt out. Umbrella company pension scheme {Working through an umbrella company,contractors are classed as an employee. |} That means,yes,you are automatically registered on the umbrella company’s pension scheme provided that you fulfill the following criteria: Your work is primarily UK-based You earn greater than #10,000 annually You are between 22 and the state pension age. Until 5th April 2019,3 percent of your pre-tax salary will go into a retirement fund,together with the umbrella company contributing a further 2%. By 6th April 2019,5 percent of your pre-tax salary will probably go into the exact same pension fund,together with your umbrella company contributing a further 3%. The benefits of an umbrella company pension Some contractors can worry that this will eat away at their wages. Do not. {Pension contributions are made before your wages are taxed. |} That means anything which goes out of your wage into your pension fund is tax-free rather than being taxed at 20% or even 40%. So,rather than getting 60% of your income,you get 100 percent via a pension fund. Let us say you get over #46,351 annually,which sets you at the higher rate band of income tax. {Anything you get beyond that #46,351 annually (approximately #3,863 per month) is taxed at a rate of 40%. |} You receive only #60 for each #100 of revenue. Why don’t you put the full #100 straight into the retirement fund rather? That is why lots of individuals,particularly people in the higher rate band of income tax,opt to put more than the minimal into their retirement fund. And this is entirely possible. Contractors can contribute upto #40,000 for their retirement scheme per year,including tax-free income and employer contributions. Currently,there’s a life allowance of #1,030,000 that can be contributed before incurring any tax. Using your funds {With the increased earnings of contracting,it’s typical for contractors to retire early. |} As an alternative,you may only want to find some of the money out for a vacation,new car or home improvement. The good news isthat you don’t have to wait until the state retirement age to get the pension capital you’ve built up through your umbrella company retirement. Once you’re 55 or over,you can get up to 25 percent of your pension pot as a tax-free lump sum. Anything outside the 25 percent will be taxed as an addition to the rest of your income that tax season — either20% over #11,850,40% over #46,351 or #45% over #150,000,as things now stand. That is why most people choose to take their retirement as regular income as soon as they’ve retired,to minimise the quantity of tax paid. What about limited companies? {Contractors who function as a limited company can still benefit from the tax aid of a retirement scheme. |} However,as with most things relating to limited companies,this needs a lot more effort on their part. Firstlythey have to find the ideal balance between salary and dividend payments to increase the limit in their retirement contributions. Because employer contributions,like pensions,count as a business cost,they’re subject to tax relief. So,when you contribute to your retirement strategy,as a director,the company could spend less in corporation tax. But this has additional complications since it needs to be fully compliant as an allowable cost. Any other employees,by way of instance,ought to be given similar packages to prove to HMRC which it is a genuine business expense. On top of all that,using a limited company pension scheme means establishing and paying into the retirement fund yourself. Along with the rest of the administrative work for limited company owners,it’s definitely worth seeking assistance and advice from a trusted accountant. Get the Ideal help Whether you are looking to compare umbrella firms or find the right accountant,you can make the ideal choice with www.ltd-or-umbrella.co.uk. Our online comparison tool allows you evaluate numerous companies in a couple of minutes. It couldn’t be much easier to take the hassle out of contracting. Contact us today to learn more.