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NRA 60 & AVC

Royal Mail pension news and discussion.Please note the advise given in this forum is unofficial, please use the links we have for a more detailed response or see an independent financial adviser.
Streets4228
Posts: 17
Joined: 10 May 2021, 13:35
Gender: Male

NRA 60 & AVC

Post by Streets4228 »

Please can you help me here. I'm coming upto 55 in a couple of months. I have been paying I to the flexiplan and bonus plan for about 21 years and have built up a sizeable sum of money. Now the question is can I take my AVC's and keep paying my pension payments I to the RMP or do I have to take both at the same time?
RobertT
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 6644
Joined: 09 Sep 2007, 14:26
Gender: Male

Re: NRA 60 & AVC

Post by RobertT »

The usual use for AVC's(Bonusplan & Flexiplan) is to fund the tax free lump sum when taking your NRA60/65 benefits.

You can take your AVC's separately from your main benefits if you want to, either before or after you take your NRA60/65. But they would need to be transferred into a personal pension first.
The problem with doing that is that only the first 25% is then guaranteed to be tax free with the remainder coming under normal PAYE income tax rules.

You can't just take out the balance of your AVC's just because you're aged 55+. They're pensions, so pension rules apply to them.

For most people it's best to take AVC's with main NRA60/65 benefits, as that's likely to be the most tax efficient. Although there's always exceptions.
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