(Bloomberg) — Banks in the UK will pay the one- time, 50 percent tax on bonuses levied by the Treasury rather than reduce compensation, according to accountants and lawyers who advise financial institutions. Bankers who face increased income taxes on those payouts may not be so accommodating.

Attention is shifting to how to minimise the effects of a personal income tax rise for high earners to 50 percent from 40 percent, which goes into effect in April, the accountants and lawyers said.

One key strategy: Seeking more compensation in deferred stock, a form of pay classified as a capital gain and taxed at 18 percent in the UK

"Inevitably, people are going to be pressed toward capital gains tax schemes, there's no doubt about that," said Nicholas Stretch, a tax lawyer at London-based law firm CMS Cameron McKenna. "We're seeing greater interest from clients."

The levy on bonuses of more than £25,000 ($40,300) and the increase in taxes on individuals earning more than £150,000 pounds a year mark efforts by the ruling Labour Party, facing an election to be held by June, to tap into popular anger over the £1 trillion cost of bailing out UK banks during the financial crisis.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced the tax on bankers' bonuses last month.

He said he introduced the measure, which covers payouts in cash and deferred stock, to encourage banks to build up capital, not raise revenue.

It may do the opposite. The Treasury, which initially said the tax would raise £550 million, now estimates it may net as much as £2 billion as banks opt to pay the tax rather than reduce bonuses, according to a government official who declined to be identified.

UK banks are going to pay up because the legislation is tightly drawn and Treasury has been unwilling to negotiate, the accountants and lawyers said. An appeal to Darling last month from Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s chief executive officer, made no difference.

"People will be looking at the bonus tax and turning around and saying is there anything that we can do?" said Dominic Stuttaford, a partner at law firm Norton Rose LLP in London, which specialises in advising financial firms. "A lot of them will just say, with a very loud expletive: 'Sorry, we've got to pay it'."

Representatives of Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. said the banks hadn't made a decision on how to deal with the tax. Barclays Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan, Credit Suisse Group AG and UBS AG declined to comment.

There's little appetite among the banks to circumvent the bonus tax because the legislation is rigorously drafted, said Sylvie Watts, a compensation lawyer at London-based Allen & Overy LLP. Banks also run the risk of negative publicity if they are caught trying to evade it, she said.

"There aren't many ways around it," she said. Bankers "are just taking it on the chin."

That leaves banks such as Barclays and RBS, whose compensation committees are preparing to meet this month, with a choice if they pay the bonuses and the tax.

"They either risk the wrath of shareholders, who will receive a smaller slice of profits, or anger staff outside the UK by reducing the global bonus pool, or both, if they split the cost.

"In principle, we can't support the idea that the shareholders should pick up the bill," said Peter Montagnon, director of investment affairs at the Association of British Insurers, whose members control about a fifth of the UK stock market, including banking stocks.

Investors will have to consider whether to support the bank's decision to add the cost of the tax to the wage bill on a case-by-case basis, he said.

Darling's bonus tax, backed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has helped the Labour Party narrow the lead over the opposition Conservative Party in opinion polls.

George Osborne, the lawmaker in line to become chancellor if the Conservatives win the election, has supported limits on cash bonuses and hasn't ruled out extending the tax.

RBS CEO Stephen Hester told Parliament yesterday that "we are losing talent that I wish we weren't" because employees are worried about the bank. London Mayor Boris Johnson also warned this week that as many of 9,000 bankers may leave the UK as a result of the bonus tax.

Ian Fleming, a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal Taxand LLC in London, disagreed, saying banks are unlikely to move to low-tax regimes because the Darling plan is a one-time levy. "Any extension of the bonus tax might tip the balance," Fleming said.

In addition to the charge on bonuses, UK bankers face an income tax increase in April.

Any British banker will have to pay half his income over £150,000 to the government for the first time since Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher cut the top rate of income tax to 40 percent in 1988.

The top federal tax rate the United States is 35 percent in New York state, 45 percent in Frankfurt, Germany and 44 percent in Geneva, Switzerland.

"You've got a generation of people who have not experienced paying half their income to the government," said Chris Maddock, tax director of the London-based Vantis Group Ltd. "It's a psychological barrier."

Bankers who try to dodge income tax by reclassifying their earnings as a capital gain may struggle to evade British tax authorities, accountants said.

"The government isn't stupid," said John Whiting, tax policy director at the London-based Chartered Institute of Taxation, a professional body that promotes the study and practice of taxation. "They are on the lookout."