Aon has offered qualifying employee the option to defer their 2012 bonus payments so they can benefit from a cut in the top rate of income tax.
Bonus payments were scheduled to be handed out in March, but the insurance broker has offered qualifying employees the option to postpone them until after 6 April, when the top rate of tax for employees earning more than £150,000 a year falls from 50% to 45%.
The move comes days after investment bank Goldman Sachs backed away from similar plans. It had been considering giving staff deferred bonuses from 2009, 2010 and 2011 in the form of shares after April 2013, but a decision was taken not to delay the payment.
An Aon spokesperson said: “Qualifying UK employees were given the option of deferring their 2012 bonuses from March to April 2013.
“Approximately 250 employees, 4% of the UK employee base, elected [to take] this option.”
What is HMRC’s take on this – is it not seen as another means of achieving tax avoidance?
Ah the interesting issue of the moral standpoint again! We now live in an era where trying to minimise tax can be seen as morally reprehensible. Is it not reasonable though, for an employer to offer to be as flexible with remuneration as the law allows, and leave the moral compass of each employee to decide whether such tax planning is appropriate for them? This can work both ways of course, as some employees will appreciate the flexibility on offer to minimise personal taxation, whilst other employees might object to the accusations of tax avoidance being levelled at the employer.
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