A typical GP could face an annual allowance charge of almost half their post-tax income’, BMA pay advisor Dr Tony Goldstone warned last week.
In a now-deleted Twitter thread, he explained:
“If September CPI [Consumer Prices Index] is 10%, that might give a typical GP around the level of the lifetime allowance [ie, those towards the end of their careers] and with average earnings of £115k an AA charge of £33,349 – that’s almost half of their post-tax income.”
With regard to Dr Goldstone’s Twitter thread, the BMA declined to comment on the deletion of his personal account.
Dr Goldstone’s remarks coincided with the launch of a new GP pensions tool by the BMA. The tool models the effect of the CPI on an individual pension. To load the tool, ensure Javascript is enabled in your browser.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “Receiving a huge tax bill for our pension scheme is the last thing any of us want. The BMA has produced this excellent tool, and all of us within the NHS Pension scheme should be putting some time aside to use it to see if we could be facing this penalty.
“We’ve asked our accounting and finance partners, Honey Barrett and Legal and Medical, to produce a review of how this could impact sessional GPs. We will contact members with this advice as soon as we receive it.”