Bankers defer bonuses to avoid 50p tax rate Bankers have deferred their annual bonus season this year in order to avoid paying income tax, data from the Office for National Statistics show. The financial services sector avoided paying the top rate of income tax on £1.3bn-worth of bonus payments, by deferring them until after the end of the financial year, according to the ONS's annual bonuses data release. The move means that the payments are not liable for the 50p top rate of income tax, which was introduced in 2010 but abolished by the coalition government from April this year onwards. The 50p tax rate attracted controversy when it was introduced by the previous Labour government, with opponents claiming it would cause high earners to shift their income into the prior year to avoid paying more tax on it. The Liberal Democrats are planning to ballot activists at their party conference over whether to reintroduce the 50p rate. Across the economy bonus payments only grew by 1 per cent year on year in 2012-13, but when the April payments are taken into account bonus payments were up 4 per cent, topping £39bn. The financial services sector took a third of all bonuses, a total of £14bn, and saw the largest growth: bonuses in the sector rose by £550m year on year including the payments made in April.