60% tax? What to do if you just started earning over £100,000

You’ve just been promoted, you’ve got a big commission from your sales. Maybe you got a bonus as a reward for your hard work? Or simply, you’re just earning over £100,000 because you work 100 hours a week.

It should be a reason to celebrate – if only you weren’t paying a higher tax rate than anyone in the UK (even than people earning more than you).

How does the 60% tax rate work?

Basically, everyone in the UK is entitled to an amount of money that’s tax-free. This is called the Personal Tax Allowance and it’s worth £12,570 this tax year. Over this, you pay tax in tranches, from 20% to 45% on your income, otherwise known as your taxable income.

Where does the 60% come from? Well, once you earn over £100,000, you start losing your tax-free Personal Allowance – one pound of allowance per every two pounds over this £100,000 threshold.

If you do the maths, this is an income tax rate of exactly 60% for the income between £100,000 and £125,140. And this doesn’t include National Insurance.

This is the second highest tax rate in all of Europe. There is only one other place that has higher tax: Munkedal, a small region in Sweden with a population of 10,000, which has a staggering marginal tax rate of 70%.

What can you do to reduce your tax rate?

The good news is that there are quite a few things you can do to reduce your tax rate. 

Here is our advice:

1. Save more into your pension

Sure – saving money for retirement is the last thing on your mind when you’re in your 20s or even 30s. It does sound like a bad deal: locking money until you’re 55. In reality, it’s one of the best ways to cut your tax bill.

Why should you save into your private pension?

Three reasons:

• You get your tax back on whatever money you save. That 60%? You can get it back
• Your employer usually has to top up your contribution (up to a limit, usually 4-5% of your salary these days)
• And the gains you make, over time, will be tax-free as well. So whatever return you make on your initial investment is completely tax-free when you’re 55

How does the pension tax relief work?

Is your employer using “net pay” for your pension contribution? 

Good news: whatever you save already includes any tax you would have paid. No need to do anything. 

Bad news: it’s quite hard to change how much you save whenever you want to save more – you have to ask your employer whenever you want to save more or less…

Is your employer using “relief at source”? Then how much tax you can get back depends on how much you earn:

• Under £125,140 a year: you can save up to £60,000 into your pension, and get the full tax relief on it (20% automatic relief then an extra 20-25% via your pension provider by filing a Self Assessment tax return)
• Over £124,141 a year: works the same but you can only save up to £10,000 into your pension
• If your threshold income (income not including your pension contributions) is over £200,000 or your adjusted income (income including pension contributions) is over £240,000: how much you can save decreases gradually – you can use this pension tax relief calculator to see exactly how much

Is it worth it?

Yes!

Look at the example below – for £120,000 your overall tax rate is 32%. With National Insurance it climbs to almost 39% (as per 23/24 tax year rates).

If you save £30,000 into your pension, you’re getting back half of your tax back – and your overall tax rate becomes just under 20%. 

Another way to look at it: compared to saving £30,000 in a normal savings account, by saving it into your pension you get an instant 66% return:

• £30,000 your original “investment”
• You get £10,000 as an automatic tax relief
• You can get another £15,000 if you file a Self Assessment tax return
• Your employer will usually contribute about 4% of your salary too (that’s 4,800 in this case)

Add a conservative 7% annual return from FTSE100 over the past 30 years, and by the time you’re 55 your £30,000 will be worth a little over £270,000.

That’s a 442% return over 25 years (presuming you save this amount when you’re 30).

2. Ask for a non-cash bonus instead of a cash one 

This works great if you’re starting out in investment banking or consulting, where usually it’s the bonus that sends you into the 60% tax trap.

By reducing your cash earnings by just a bit, you can push your income below £100,000 – while also getting your bonus. 

For example:

• Private medical insurance (including tests, treatments, etc.)
• Company car (especially if it’s electric)
• Childcare

All of these are tax-free if you get them through a “salary sacrifice” scheme.

3. Invest in startups

This is another great way to save on tax. Although be aware that startups are risky investments and your capital is at risk. The money you invest could go up or down.

This type of investment works similarly to the pension tax relief: you invest in a startup today and you can get the tax back on that amount through a Self Assessment tax return.

There are three startup investment schemes in the UK:

• The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) gives you 50% back
• The Enterprise Investment Scheme gives you 30% back
• The Venture Capital Trust (VCT) also gives you 30% back

Plus, if the startup that you invest in makes it big, you don’t have to pay any tax on this profit, either. 

How to find startups to invest in if you’re not a professional angel investor:

• Crowdfunding platforms like Seedrs and Crowdcube
• VCT brokers like Hargreaves Landsown or WealthClub

Just remember to file a Self Assessment and declare these investments: if you don’t, not only will you not get your tax back, the gains from the eventual profit (IPO, acquisition…) will not be tax-free either.