Cash offering to get around pension tax charge

Analysing how firms aim to deal with the changes to how pension provision will be taxed from April 2006, Watson Wyatt found 67% of large companies that have started to formulate a policy might consider offering cash as an alternative. New rules set an upper limit on the amount of money that can be put away by an individual for their retirement. Pension savings above this limit will then be taxed. Sue Bartlett, partner in Watson Wyatt’s executive compensation team says experience has made it apparent that such alternatives are constructed to "cost" the employer the same as the pension be...