Say person A is a 50% tax payer. Can person A employ Person B (their spouse) for £43,999 per year to be their office manager, therefore reducing Person A’s taxable income?

or is all this no longer possible these days?

I think that ( employers and employees ) NI might cause you to not save very much in that position.

You are Ken Livingstone, and I claim my £5.

I believe it is possible, although the person has to actually do some work (although I don’t know how they can check on this).

You can employ who you like but you have to pay their TAX, NI and employers NI.

*currently looking to increase pension contributions to avoid losing child benefit*

All this and more, there is a whole industry in this country revolving around our tax laws and how to get round them.

Say person A is a 50% tax payer

If person A is an employee of another company then no you can’t do this. If on the other hand person A owns and operates his or her own company then yes you probably can, provided certain practical conditions are met. e.g. is the job that is being done really worth a salary of £43,999 pa.

@FD, this sort of thing is only possible if you are self employed/run your own business. But yes it’s possible and totally normal, using salary payments and dividends. You cannot (and never could) employ someone out of your taxed PAYE income and claim tax relief.

Person A would be salaried through an employer, but then also do private work earning approx £100k, which would involve meeting clients in rented offices & receiving payment from insurance companies.

If Person A is bringing in the kind of money then Person A can afford an accountant.

we all pay far too much tax nowadays …am sick to the back teeth of hearing about tax tax tax !!

Actually, we don’t pay that much. Unfortunately what we do pay is disproportionately loaded onto the poorer in society.

In my book tax avoidance = tax evasion.

No moral outrage! Not much moral outrage. This place is getting better. 😀

No moral outrage! Not much moral outrage. This place is getting better worse. 🙄

Tax avoidance = cheating.

MTFU, pay what you owe.

This place is getting better worse. 🙄

I thought the lack of hypocrisy was quite refreshing, I guess I was wrong. 😆

I thought the lack of hypocrisy was quite refreshing

Would you care to explain my hypocrisy?

Actually, we don’t pay that much. Unfortunately what we do pay is disproportionately loaded onto the poorer in society.

Dare I even ask…. but how’d you work that out? Higher rate tax payers account for a small proportion of population but pay the majority of tax. That seems pretty progressive to me.

Source:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_tax/table2-4.pdf

2012-13 top 10% of tax payers (gross income of over 50,500) pay 55.3% of total tax.

Dare I even ask….

Oh no. You’ve done it now…

Tax efficiency = paying what you owe

Quote from Kerry packer in oz. “I’ll pay more tax when you can spend it properly”

MTFU, pay what you owe.[/quote]

But the rules allow you to calculate “what you owe” in different ways.

But the rules allow you to calculate “what you owe” in different ways.

Indeed. So part of paying tax becomes a matter of morality…

Crikey…”in your opinion”…

BTW what efforts are you making to pay more tax than the minimum?

BTW what efforts are you making to pay more tax than the minimum?

I’m PAYE; I get no choice in the matter. I work, I get taxed on my earnings.

..and strange though it may seem, I’m happy to pay tax; I see it as my contribution to the society I live in.

Oh no. You’ve done it now…

I know, I can only apologise.

..and strange though it may seem, I’m happy to pay tax; I see it as my contribution to the society I live in.

Me to.

stw…as ever, the home of the “holier than thou”…

stw…as ever, the home of the “holier than thou”…

Would you care to qualify that remark?

I see paying tax as a duty; it pays for the things in society that I use and that others benifit from, and is one of the things that makes a society civilised.

Your response is to cheapen that, to dismiss it.

So, MTFU and argue your point, or give over.

I think he means that you can still save tax even if you are on PAYE by gifting money to the Church.

2012-13 top 10% of tax payers (gross income of over 50,500) pay 55.3% of total tax.

I don’t know the answer. But how much, as a percentage of all pre taxable income, do the top 10% take though? I’d have a pure guess at 70/80% possibly higher? be interested if some one knew that figure..

I find a person’s keenness to pay tax is inversely proportional to the amount they pay, it has very little to do with morality.

I’ve got a P60 somewhere, would you like to compare?

Crikey

You are saying those who lessen their tax liabilities in perfectly legal ways are morally inferior to you.

Presumably you have never had this option and I say you are “holier than thou” for this reason.

Don’t have a P60, being PAYE isn’t tax efficient for me.

You are saying those who lessen their tax liabilities in perfectly legal ways are morally inferior to you.

No. You are putting words into my mouth.

I said: ” part of paying tax becomes a matter of morality…”

I made no reference to myself; I suggested that the act of paying tax when you have a choice of how much to pay involves a moral judgement.

I have then spoken about my attitude towards tax.

At no point have I made a comparison, or claimed the moral high ground.

Allow me to ask a question or two;

If one is able to avoid paying some tax, is it a morality free issue?
Do you think we should all avoid paying tax?

If one is able to avoid paying some tax, is it a morality free issue?
Do you think we should all avoid paying tax?

We should all pay the right amount of tax.
The tax system should be set up so that it is simpler with less loop holes.

Where does the moral high ground end?
Cycle to Work to get out of Higher Rate Tax and buy a new MTB?
Import gear from the states to try and avoid VAT and Import Duty?
Shopping on Rose to save 1% VAT and not pay 20% to the UK Exchequer?
Increasing Pension or Charity donations?

If you overpaid HMRC on PAYE would you claim it back?

The op is on such a ego trip with this post-any excuse to tell people that you earn 100k eh? As others have said, if you earn that much you can probably afford a decent accountant, I’ve got a decent one and earn about 25% of what you do.

If person A was a 50% tax payer one might imagine them bright enough to figure it out for themselves

Crikey, do you adhere to the glass house maxim?

I expect you do, being a moral chap, and if that’s the case then you are splitting hairs, in PhD level stw big hitter style.