Tax takes a 29% bite out of pensioner income

-The average pensioner household income is £20,130, of which £5,864 is paid in tax

-£1,5015 of this is income tax

-£1,937 of this is indirect taxation, including VAT

-Council tax accounts for 5.8% of gross income

-Less well-off households pay the most in taxation, with 42% of their gross household income being paid in tax. The bottom decile of pensioner households have an average income of £8,259, of which £3,599 is collected by HRMC

On an average gross pensioner household income of £20,130, that equates to £5,864 paid out in tax, with income tax accounting for nearly £1,501 of the bill and indirect taxes including VAT totalling £1,937. Council tax is the third-largest tax burden accounting for 5.8% of gross income.

With an average tax liability of £5,864 for the UK’s 7.15 million retired households, the bill from direct and indirect taxation equates to around £41.9 billion.

In total, direct taxes, including income tax and council tax, account for 12.2% out of the 29% tax burden with indirect taxes, including VAT, duty on tobacco, alcohol and petrol, vehicle excise duty and TV licences, accounting for 16.8%.

However, less well-off households proportionally pay out the most in direct and indirect tax with 42% of their gross household income being paid out in tax. The bottom tenth of pensioner households, in receipt of gross income estimated at £8,259 a year, pay £3,599 in taxes.

The top 10% of pensioner households, with gross income of £47,992, see 29% of their income going in direct and indirect tax.

Dominic Grinstead, Managing Director, MetLife UK, said:

 “Pensioners need to think about the effects of direct and indirect tax on their retirement income and to plan accordingly.

With 29% of gross retirement income being swallowed up by tax it is clearly a major factor to consider when planning for retirement.

When you add in the potential effects of inflation in a retirement lasting up to 20 or even 30 years it is clear that savers need to consider all retirement income solutions in order to achieve a degree of certainty.”

MetLife’s analysis shows the average retired household receives 40% of its gross income from private and occupational pensions with 39% coming from the State Pension and the rest coming from investments and savings plus other benefits. The average private pension pays £8,134 per household before taxes.