If you’re an employer setting up your workplace pension with The People’s Pension, you can choose to deduct your employees’ contributions from their wages either before or after tax.
Tax relief can be applied in 2 very different ways (and it’s important to get it right):
- Net tax basis (deducting contributions after tax)
When you sign up to The People’s Pension, we’ll automatically set you up on the net tax basis. You may see HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) referring to this as the ‘relief at source’ method.
- Under this tax basis you’d deduct employee contributions from their pay after tax is taken. (That’s why we call this tax basis net.)
- Then, The People’s Pension claims the tax relief – at the basic 20% rate of tax – from the government.
- And it’s then added to your employee’s pension savings – even for any employees who don’t pay tax.
- Employees who pay more than basic rate tax will need to claim the extra tax relief direct from HMRC, normally through their tax returns.
- Gross tax basis (deducting contributions before tax)
You may see HMRC referring to this as the ‘net pay arrangement’ method. If you choose this option, you’ll need to call us on 01293 58 66 66 to set this up.
- Under this tax basis, you’d deduct employee contributions from their pay before tax is taken. (That’s why we call this tax basis gross.)
- So, your employees will automatically get full tax relief on their contributions straightaway.
- But unlike the alternative net tax basis, it means lower paid employees who don’t pay tax won’t receive any tax relief.
Visit our pension tax webpage for more information.