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Compare PolicyEngine UK pension treatment with STBM (#672)#1722

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Compare PolicyEngine UK pension treatment with STBM (#672)#1722
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vahid-ahmadi/issue-672-pension-comparison-stbm

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Summary

  • Compare pensions treatment to ScottishTaxBenefitModel #672 asks for a comparison of PolicyEngine UK's pension handling with the Scottish Tax-Benefit Model's methodology from the Virtual Worlds blog.
  • Persist the comparison at docs/book/programs/gov/hmrc/pensions-comparison-stbm.md.
  • Headline finding: the two models compute the same aggregate fiscal cost for any given household's pension contributions; they differ only in presentation — STBM splits relief-at-source vs higher-rate top-up; PolicyEngine UK combines them into a single pension_contributions_relief reduction in taxable income (matching HMRC's pension tax relief statistics methodology).
  • Also enumerates:
    • shared mechanics (annual allowance taper, salary sacrifice, employer contributions excluded from earnings),
    • shared gaps (annual-allowance carry-forward not modelled in either; decumulation taxation beyond basic private_pension_income),
    • divergences in State Pension structure (PolicyEngine UK's three-variable BSP / NSP / ASP split vs STBM's single transfer),
    • post-2024 lifetime-allowance abolition status.
  • Cross-links to the pension-tax-relief and state-pension docs pages from Pension tax relief calculations #704 and State pension undershoot: -£12bn vs OBR, ASP/Protected Payment under-captured #1632 so the three pages function as a coherent pension-modelling reference.

Test plan

  • Markdown lints cleanly (table, links, cross-refs).
  • Docs build job picks up the new page under programs/gov/hmrc/.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

#672 asks for a comparison of PolicyEngine UK's pension treatment with
the Scottish Tax-Benefit Model's methodology described in the Virtual
Worlds blog post.

Persist the comparison in-repo as a docs page. The headline conclusion
is the two models compute the same aggregate fiscal cost of pension
tax relief for any given household; they differ only in presentation:

- STBM splits relief-at-source (basic rate) and the higher-rate top-up
  (via SA basic-rate-band extension);
- PolicyEngine UK combines them into a single pension_contributions_relief
  reduction in taxable income — matching the HMRC pension tax relief
  statistics methodology used as the calibration target.

The page also enumerates:

- shared mechanics (annual allowance taper, salary sacrifice, employer
  contribution exclusion from earnings),
- shared gaps (annual-allowance carry-forward not modelled in either,
  decumulation taxation beyond basic private_pension_income),
- divergences in State Pension structure (PolicyEngine UK uses the
  three-variable BSP / NSP / ASP split; STBM uses a single transfer
  per the linked blog),
- post-2024 lifetime-allowance abolition: historical LTA params
  retained for back-cast, post-2024 lump-sum allowances not yet
  modelled.

Cross-links to the pension-tax-relief and state-pension docs pages
added under #704 and #1632 respectively, so the three pages function
as a coherent pension-modelling reference.
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