Goldman Sachs Group Inc is considering whether to delay delivery of some bonuses due from prior years for UK employees until after top income-tax rates fall on April 6, according to a person briefed on the matter.
The postponement would affect incentive compensation deferred from 2009, 2010 and 2011 and benefit those whose tax rates are set to decline from 50 per cent to 45 per cent, said the person, who requested anonymity because a decision hasn’t been made. The delay wouldn’t affect bonuses awarded for 2012, the person said.
The move would resemble the company’s decision last month to accelerate delivery of $65 million in stock awards to senior managers in the US, including Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C Blankfein, 58, to help them avoid higher tax rates that took effect this year. New York-based Goldman Sachs, the fifth-biggest US bank by assets, typically delivers executives’ restricted stock during January.
Michael DuVally, a Goldman Sachs spokesman, declined to comment. The Financial Times reported yesterday that the bank was weighing whether to defer the bonus payments.
About half of the top 20 banks in the UK had considered delaying payouts, the FT reported, citing bankers and compensation consultants whom it didn’t identify.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne reduced the top tax rate, saying in his March 21 Budget that the higher levy generated little revenue and encouraged avoidance.
“No chancellor can justify a tax rate that damages our economy and raises next to nothing — it’s as simple as that,” he told the House of Commons in London at the time.