State Pension

On basis that you don’t use it all or all though and have no surviving spouse the tax hits whatever’s left on basis most will have other assets . It might be in many cases this just creates an issue for the surviving widow after you have gone having inherited the DC fund on your demise.
Your post didn’t entirely make sense but just in case anyone else reads it and thinks leaving some or all of your pension to your spouse might give them a tax problem - there is no IHT liabilities between spouses in the UK. Any IHT liability when the spouse subsequently dies isn’t really their problem (and some might say isn’t a problem at all as it just reduces the the size of a quite large pot).
 
I had exactly the same name appear on my phone a week or so ago. I wanted to speak to the DWP to see what my pension is going to amount to, and whether I needed to bolster NI contributions. I'd forgotten my Gov Gateway password though, so had to go through an arduous security check. The number I called came from the Gov.uk site but my mob said it was 'Funerals on a Budget'.

Perhaps our political servants are thinking of additional ways to finish us off?!
 
Civil service final salary schemes went years ago, now it's the same as anyone else, it depends on how much you paid in over the years working for them.
That is not the case - I think most civil servants are now on a career average scheme, so still generous and guaranteed although calculated differently to final salary.
 
It is understandable that some believe the state pension should be means tested.
Why? I contributed generously to the state Ponzi Scheme.

My NI contributions exceeded £120k over my career, half of them in the last decade of work when the income cap was removed and the rate doubled to 2%. I was paying £6k a year from 2012 onwards.

I have no shame in drawing from the system and spending it how I chose.
 
Why? I contributed generously to the state Ponzi Scheme.

My NI contributions exceeded £120k over my career, half of them in the last decade of work when the income cap was removed and the rate doubled to 2%. I was paying £6k a year from 2012 onwards.

I have no shame in drawing from the system and spending it how I chose.
How much would a £120k defined contribution benefit pot give you as an annual pension? Nowhere near your state pension.
 
How much would a £120k defined contribution benefit pot give you as an annual pension? Nowhere near your state pension.
Investing over a 50 year period, it would also be worth a lot more than £120k.

I also chose to start a private pension in the 1980s and for the last 30 years also put 50% of my salary into a pension. WTF should I be penalised?

I'm also an additional rate tax payer in retirement and paying up to 60% tax on my pension.

I'll happily give up my SP if HMRC reduce my tax bill accordingly.
 
My concern was really that my widow assuming I die first being male and older which might be a reasonable assumption in absence of mutual accident is that my widow while inheriting the balance IHT free then has to decide how to offload that fund ideally before her demise in a tax efficient way to her beneficiaries. In absence of doing this not only does the fund now attract IHT but also income tax when drawn down so having reduced the fund by IHT rate applicable another hit arises to actual take any of the fund .
 
That is not the case - I think most civil servants are now on a career average scheme, so still generous and guaranteed although calculated differently to final salary.
This is true. The big difference in practice between the old schemes and the current ones is that the age you can take the pension is now much higher-----linked to the state pension age, currently 66 and rising to 67 and upwards soon. You can access them (up to) ten years earlier but you lose (up to) half the money. They are still a good deal if you are able to live and work long enough to benefit from them.
 
This is true. The big difference in practice between the old schemes and the current ones is that the age you can take the pension is now much higher-----linked to the state pension age, currently 66 and rising to 67 and upwards soon. You can access them (up to) ten years earlier but you lose (up to) half the money. They are still a good deal if you are able to live and work long enough to benefit from them.
I suspect that they will still get much much more than a comparable individual on a DC scheme. There is a good reason no private sector pensions are anything like that generous - they are simply unaffordable unless funded by the taxpayer not the individual.
 
...................... not only does the fund now attract IHT ...............................
It will only "attract IHT" if the total estate is above whatever threshold is in place when the pension holder dies. Just because, from April 2027, an extant DC pension pot for instance will be considered as part of the estate for IHT purposes does not mean that IHT will be payable.

Only 4%-5% of estates actually pay IHT at present. This will of course increase when DC pensions are counted as part of the estate but one estimate for that suggests the number will rise to around 8% of estates having to pay anything. The vast majority will not pay. Those sufficiently wealthy to believe that this is a concern often seek professional tax advice to minimise this exposure one way or another. There are several ways of reducing that tax liability legitimately - gifts from income, use of the 7-year rule etc.

Furthermore, there is at present, no income tax payable on inherited pensions when the pension holder dies before the age of 75.
 
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