Retirement and tax

An end to work, not an end to tax

Tax does not disappear once you start the retirement process. While your income is likely to fall when you cease work completely, you will still have an income tax liability if your pension and other income exceed your available allowances.

In some respects, tax can become more complex in retirement than when you are in work. Before retirement normally only one source of earnings is taxed, whereas in retirement you may receive pensions from several different sources, including the state, former employers’ pension schemes and personal pensions. To complicate matters, not all pension income is taxed in the same way.