Goldman Sachs decides not to hold back bonuses to benefit from tax change

Goldman Sachs has decided not to hold back investment bankers' bonuses until the new financial year.

Sachs was reported to have been considering the move to benefit from the cut in the top rate of income tax from 50p to 45p, which comes into effect on April 6.

Earlier, the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, warned banks risked losing public goodwill if they deferred payments until after April.

He said planning to defer their bonus in this way would be “depressing” and “lacking in care and attention” to the rest of society.

Over the past few days, it became known that Goldman Sachs was considering holding back bonuses until after April 6, a move which could potentially cost the UK Treasury millions of pounds.

The company, which publishes its full-year results tomorrow and is expected to inform staff of 2012 bonus levels shortly afterwards, has declined to comment publicly on the issue.

But, according to people familiar with the process, the bank’s compensation committee decided at a meeting today not to go ahead with the deferral.