BellaBoo

@Keith Cheasman Hi, I'm not HMRC Admin but might be able to help. I believe, based on your comment of 2 weeks old and 2 weeks new, you are still looking at when amounts are paid. For self assessment you use 1 week at the old rate and 51 weeks at the new rate. It is to do with when the entitlement to the benefit accrues. The first week you receive state pension it is paid from your birthday until the end of the week. It then runs on a weekly entitlement basis but the entitlement accrues at the end of the week rather than the start. So if your birthday was a Wednesday in the year you reached state pension your first week of state pension would be pro-rata from Wednesday until Sunday (including sunday). Then each week after would be on a Monday to Sunday basis. As opposed to it being based on the day you turned state pension age (Wednesday to Tuesday). But it is because of those rules (the basis the entitlement to benefits are gained) that it ends up being 1 week at the old rate and 51 weeks at the new rate. It needs to be that way to ensure fairness. Otherwise you would end up with a situation where two people are entitled to the same amount of pension but end up with different amounts falling into different tax years due to their day being a Monday and the other person's being a Thursday.

Hi, not a HMRC Admin but when you are employed via an intermediary each engagement is treated as a separate employment. If this is home to client travel you may find it is classed as ordinary commuting and so it would be taxable on you with no tax relief due. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim32135

You do benefit from the 40% saving. It might be clearer if you consider what the position would be if you didn't salary sacrifice. You would then have approx. £15,000 taxable at 40%. With the salary sacrifice you end up with only approx. £5,000 taxable at 40%. Saving you 40% on £10,000. In your example you avoid paying 20% (basic rate) on the £10,000 sacrificed but this also allows £10,000 of the other income to be taxed at 20% rather than 40%. Both of those together give you the 40% on the £10,000.

Hi, I'm not a HMRC Admin and can't see the replies within the last 2 weeks (awaiting approval) but I don't think people are taking on board what HMRC are saying. Although these forums are hosted on www.gov.uk, they are HMRC forums so HMRC Admin can only answer HMRC questions and cannot answer DWP questions (other than telling you to contact the DWP). The Future Pension Centre & your entitlement to state pension is the responsibility of the DWP. This is why HMRC can only direct you to contact the Future Pension Centre (DWP). I understand it can be frustrating navigating which body is responsible for what. I am just trying to help and explain why the Admin can only tell you to contact the future pension centre.

Hi, I am not a HMRC admin but the information you have posted only applies to sole traders. Limited company director/shareholders are employees for tax purposes, not self-employed. The index page of the page you have linked can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/business-income-manual/bim47800 Which says: It does not apply to the use of home by an employee or director - for this see EIM32760 onwards.

@Anthony Hi, If you check the very last sentence of the following HMRC page you will see it confirms that the contributions are regarded as employer contributions if made under salary sacrifice. There is no box on a self assessment to report salary sacrifice contributions because you have already had full relief for them via the lower figure on the p60. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim42775 In continuation of the scenario you used, your p60 would show taxable earnings of only £35,000 (£45,000 salary less £10,000 salary sacrifice). So once you add on the other income, your total income is only £45,000. While the person earning £55,000 would have £45,000 on their p60 and that would be their taxable income - the exact same amount as yours was.

Hi, not HMRC but the exemption amount for trivial benefits is £50 per benefit. But directors have a secondary limit meaning the maximum value of trivial benefits they can receive in a year is £300. So that could be 6x £50, 10 x £30. But any single benefit costing £51 or more cannot benefit from the exemption, because it is an exemption and not an allowance.

Hi not HMRC but you would never include salary sacrifice contributions on a self assessment. They count as employer contributions so you cannot claim relief on them. If you earn £45,000 and sacrifice £10,000 then your P60 would show £35,000 income. This is why you cannot claim relief on them. You have already been given full relief via your employer.

Hi, not an Admin but just to add you can only use carry forward if you have used your full allowance for the current year. So you would need to make contributions exceeding £60,000 in order to use the previous years unused allowance. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/pensions-tax-manual/ptm055100#usedup

Hi, not a HMRC admin but if you only work via a company then you are not self employed and should not be including the income of the ltd company on your personal return. Income of the company is recorded on a corporation tax return.