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Lump sums into 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.
rks
Posts: 71
Joined: 31 Mar 2015, 23:18
Gender: Male

Lump sums into avc

Post by rks »

Can any one correct me if I'm I'm wrong.
When I collect my nra60 in Oct. I'm thinking of paying into avc for my nra65 as I will still be working.
Reason behind this is so to reduce my tax as I could be paying higher rate, I'm assuming then when I get round to collecting my nra65 I can convert the avc money into pension? Thanks
RobertT
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 6645
Joined: 09 Sep 2007, 14:26
Gender: Male

Lump sums into avc

Post by RobertT »

A few points spring to mind:

1. To be paying higher rate tax at 40% you need to be earning over £50,000 per year.

2. You could fall foul of pension recycling rules: https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org ... -recycling" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

3. You can't directly convert your AVC cash into more RM pension, you have to buy an annuity!
At 65 you can expect to get rates of about 5% for a single life level income. Less if you want death benefits and/or inflationary increases.
I think RM's preferred annuity provider is Hargreaves Lansdown, their current rates are here: https://www.hl.co.uk/retirement/annuiti ... -buy-rates" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

4. We may not be able to pay into the current AVC's once the CDC scheme starts.

5. Payments into AVC's now have to be via payroll, so no lump sum payments are allowed.
Last edited by RobertT on 25 Feb 2020, 15:58, edited 2 times in total.
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Steve_claret
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 324
Joined: 17 Dec 2011, 14:53
Gender: Male

Lump sums into avc

Post by Steve_claret »

RobertT wrote:
2. You could fall foul of pension recycling rules: https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org ... -recycling" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Such a grey area that would be very hard for HMRC to prove. I've just gone through the 6 conditions and only 4 would apply to me. You could get away with it by saying it wasn't pre-planned (prove it HMRC) and the AVC will be worth less than 30% of the NRA60 tax free lump sum. Plus technically he isn't using his tax free lump sum to increase his pension as he will still be working then he is using his future wages which will be easy to prove if done through payroll which I presume it will be.
RobertT
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 6645
Joined: 09 Sep 2007, 14:26
Gender: Male

Lump sums into avc

Post by RobertT »

Yes pension recycling is a very grey area, but just trying to touch every base.
Links to all RM pension related websites are here
garnery
Posts: 29
Joined: 02 May 2016, 10:52
Gender: Male

Lump sums into avc

Post by garnery »

Recycling of lump sums is indeed a grey area, but i believe putting unrequired income from our db pension into a money purchase pension would not fall foul of the MPAA. Hope not, because that is part of my plan whilst in receipt of NRA 60 pension