Contractor Pensions

Avoid unnecessarily high income tax and NI deductions by simply asking Dasa to transfer part of your weekly or monthly invoice into the in-house pension scheme.

The pension forms a core part of our service to you as, in effect, it qualifies for between 39% and 48% tax relief and represents an essential way of ensuring that you work in as tax efficient way as possible.

We have invited specialist Independent Financial advisers FreelancerMoney to set up and administer the Group Stakeholder Pension scheme for us. They work closely with us to ensure that you gain maximum benefit from your time at Dasa Consulting.

Tony Harris from FreelancerMoney writes:
The Dasa Consulting scheme is a stakeholder pension and as such has no initial set up charges whatsoever. This means that every contribution gets working for you straight away without heavy fees and charges associated with many older style pension schemes. Your plan also benefits from very low ongoing admin charges and allows you the freedom to stop contributions at will and without penalties.

Low charges and flexibility are important to many investors but are essential for contractors, freelancers and temps who are far more likely to need to stop and restart contributions as your income and working patterns change. For instance you may return to a permanent position at some stage and therefore have no need for a personally funded pension. Alternatively you may work abroad in which case you could be ineligible to fund a UK pension scheme.

Should you leave Dasa Consulting at any stage you have the freedom to continue funding the plan as a personal contribution or you may even be able to get your new employer to continue payments on your behalf.

How much tax can I save?

What makes the Dasa Consulting pension so much more lucrative for you than any other type of pension you may have already or be considering is that this scheme can uniquely be funded as an employer contribution and as such avoids not only income tax at 22% for a basic rate and 40% for a higher rate taxpayer but also both the employers and employees national insurance deductions. The effective rate of tax relief therefore increases to 39% or 48% respectively and the pension therefore represents an extremely efficient way to get money out of your contract and into personal hands.

Given the enormous tax breaks associated with this scheme the Inland Revenue will restrict the amount that can be transferred into the scheme but you will be able to invest at least up to 17.5% of gross salary (minus employers NI and expenses) without any tax deductions whatsoever. Many will be able to invest significantly more - see the table below:

Age at 6th April
Up to 35 17.5 %
36 - 45 20 %
46 - 50 25 %
51 - 55 30 %
56 - 60 35 %
61 - 74 40 %

April 2006 brings enhanced scope to invest as the rules are being altered in line with the governments pension simplification initiative. You will be able to invest 100% of salary up to a substantial lifetime allowance. These changes provide even greater scope to exploit this valuable tax break.

Once invested, the funds will be held in a tax efficient environment with a good chance to grow to help fund your lifestyle when you retire (in most cases anytime after age 55).

How do I find out more?

We will be happy to recommend a range of investment funds that best suit your requirements. Whilst we are confident that there is no better way to invest whilst you work through Dasa Consulting we are not restricted to being able to offer advice relating to the in-house pension alone. As IFAs we would be very happy to review any existing investments you already have or may be considering and will happily give an unbiased view of their suitability.

To learn more about the scheme and to receive a personalised illustration please read this important information regarding the service provided, complete our pension finder below or call 0845 062 8888.