Benjamin Franklin said nothing in this life is certain except for death and taxes.
Pensioners find themselves in the firing line for both of these certainties, especially tax.
According to new analysis by Prudential, pensioners in the UK pay more than £17.5 billion in income tax each year.
Based on their analysis of the latest available ONS data on income and tax, the insurer found over 65s paid an average of £3,258 each in income tax in the 2012/13 tax year.
This accounts for around 11% of the total £157 billion of income tax paid to the Exchequer each year.
While the amount of income tax you pay typically falls after reaching your 65th birthday, this fall is not so great in London.
The average tax bill for over-65s in the UK is £2,300 lower than that for under-65s.
In London, the difference is only £692 a year.
The analysis shows that the distribution of income tax paid by over 65s is also heavily skewed towards London; in the capital, the average amount of income tax paid by over-65s was £8,386.
This is more than £5,000 higher than the UK pensioner average of £3,258.
Pensioners in the South East paid an average of £3,778 in income tax.
It will be interesting to revisit these figures in the future and see how they change when the impact of the new pension freedom rules are considered.
Following the Autumn Statement last December, the Treasury estimated that the new pension freedom rules would generate £380 million in additional revenue during the 2015/16 tax year, rising to £1.25 billion by 2018/19.
The new pension freedom rules are available to those at least 55 years old, so not all of this additional income tax revenue will be generated by over 65s.
Retiring from work doesn’t necessarily mean retiring from income tax.
When planing for retirement, it’s important to carefully consider the impact of income tax and factor these taxes into your financial planning assumptions.
