Specialist UK tax planning for high earners — manage the personal allowance taper, tapered annual allowance, additional-rate band, and the £100k child benefit charge.
UK earners between roughly £100,000 and £260,000 face some of the highest effective marginal tax rates in the country. The personal allowance taper at £100,000 creates a 60% effective rate on the next £25,000; the loss of free childcare and tax-free childcare hits at £100,000; the High Income Child Benefit Charge reduces benefit between £60,000 and £80,000; and the tapered pension annual allowance restricts contributions for those with adjusted income above £260,000.
A specialist high-earner tax planner helps you reclaim or avoid these traps. Common interventions include making pension contributions to bring adjusted net income back below £100,000, structuring bonus sacrifice into pension, EIS/VCT investments to reduce income tax liability, family income splitting, and timing of dividend or share option events.
Tax planning for high earners is most valuable when done before the tax year-end and before bonus payments are crystallised. Most advisers recommend an annual review in January or February to plan ahead of the April year-end.
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For every £2 of adjusted net income above £100,000, you lose £1 of personal allowance. Between £100,000 and £125,140 this creates an effective marginal income tax rate of 60%. Pension contributions and gift aid both reduce your adjusted net income and can restore the allowance.
The standard pension annual allowance of £60,000 is tapered down by £1 for every £2 of adjusted income above £260,000, to a minimum of £10,000 once adjusted income reaches £360,000. Calculating the taper accurately requires totalling all pension inputs, taxable income, and employer contributions.
Both offer 30% income tax relief on qualifying investments and can be useful for additional-rate taxpayers, but they are higher-risk by design and should only be considered as part of a diversified plan with regulated advice.
Most high earners benefit from a January or February review so that any pension top-ups, gift aid contributions, or sacrifice arrangements can be put in place before the 5 April tax year-end.