If you pay income tax above the basic rate and your pension uses relief at source, you claim the extra pension tax relief by entering your grossed-up contributions in the tax reliefs section of your Self Assessment tax return. Your provider has already reclaimed 20% from HMRC and added it to your pot; anything above that sits unclaimed until you report it. For a 40% taxpayer putting £10,000 (grossed up) into a personal pension over the year, that unclaimed amount is £2,000.
Do You Actually Need to Claim
Two systems deliver pension tax relief in the UK, and only one of them leaves anything for you to do at tax time.
Relief at source is standard for personal pensions and many workplace schemes. Your contribution comes out of pay that has already been taxed, and the provider then claims 20% back from HMRC. If £80 leaves your pay, £100 lands in your pension. That covers a basic-rate taxpayer in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland completely. Higher-rate and additional-rate taxpayers have only received part of the relief they are entitled to, and the rest is claimed through Self Assessment.1GOV.UK. Tax on Your Private Pension Contributions
Net pay works differently. Your employer takes the pension contribution from gross pay before calculating income tax, so full relief happens through payroll automatically. Nothing goes on your tax return. Including net pay contributions on Self Assessment is one of the more common errors that flags a return, because it amounts to claiming the same relief twice.2HM Revenue & Customs. Pensions Tax Manual – PTM044230 – Contributions: Tax Relief for Members: Methods: Net Pay
Check your payslip if you are not sure which system you are in. Under net pay, the contribution is deducted before the tax line. Under relief at source, it is deducted after tax, and the amount leaving your pay is typically 80% of the full contribution. Your provider’s annual statement will also say.
You need to file a claim through Self Assessment if any of the following describes you:
- You pay income tax above 20% and your pension uses relief at source. In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland for 2025/26, the higher rate is 40% on income between £50,270 and £125,140, and the additional rate is 45% above £125,140. A higher-rate taxpayer claims an extra 20% on grossed-up contributions; an additional-rate taxpayer claims an extra 25%.3House of Commons Library. Direct Taxes: Rates and Allowances for 2025/26
- You are a Scottish taxpayer above the basic rate. Relief at source still reclaims 20%; anything above the Scottish basic rate needs a claim.4mygov.scot. Current Rates – Scottish Income Tax
- Your pension scheme is not set up for automatic relief and expects you to claim all of it yourself.
- Someone other than you or your employer pays into your pension on your behalf.
Self-employed people who pay into a personal pension follow the same process on the SA100 as employees: the provider claims the 20%, and anything above that comes through the return.
Working Out the Grossed-Up Figure
The number you put on your return is not the amount that left your bank account. It is the grossed-up figure, which includes the 20% your provider already reclaimed. Multiply your net contribution by 1.25. If you paid £8,000 across the tax year, the grossed-up figure is £10,000, and £10,000 is what goes on the form.5HM Revenue & Customs. Personal Allowances: Adjusted Net Income
This is the mistake that quietly costs people money. Entering the net £8,000 instead of the grossed-up £10,000 shrinks a higher-rate taxpayer’s refund by £400. HMRC does not correct it, and the online system does not prompt you.
Pull together a few documents before you start:
- Your pension provider’s annual statement, which shows what you personally contributed during the tax year. Ignore employer contributions. They go into your pension tax-free and do not belong on your claim.
- Your P60 from each employer, to confirm total taxable income and to check that contributions do not exceed 100% of your relevant UK earnings, the cap on tax-relieved contributions.
- If you have more than one relief at source pension, the statements from each. Add the grossed-up figures together and enter a single total.
Keep the paperwork for at least 22 months after the end of the tax year the return covers, or five years from the 31 January filing deadline if you are self-employed.6GOV.UK. Keeping Your Pay and Tax Records: How Long to Keep Your Records
Where the Numbers Go on the SA100
Pension contributions sit in the “Tax reliefs” section of the SA100. If you are filing online, first go to “Tailor your return” and indicate that you made pension contributions in the year. That unlocks the relevant boxes.
Question 1 is where the grossed-up total of your relief at source contributions goes. This is your personal contribution plus the basic-rate top-up your provider claimed. Always enter the gross amount for the full tax year. Question 1.1 asks separately for any one-off lump sum contributions included in that total. Questions 2 and 3 cover less common cases: contributions to retirement annuity contracts, and employer schemes where contributions were not deducted from pay before tax. Question 4 handles qualifying overseas pension schemes.
When the return is processed, the figure in Question 1 extends your basic-rate band by the same amount. For a higher-rate taxpayer in England or Wales entering £10,000, £10,000 of income shifts from the 40% band into the 20% band, producing a £2,000 refund. The calculation is automatic once the numbers are in.
Before you submit, the system shows a “view your calculation” summary of the tax owed or refund due. Check it. If the refund looks lower than you expected, the most likely reason is that you entered the net amount rather than the grossed-up amount. Once you submit, save the confirmation receipt and the reference number.
Refunds from pension relief are usually paid straight to your bank or set against your next tax bill. If you are employed and file early enough in the year, HMRC may adjust your PAYE code instead, spreading the benefit across your monthly pay. Which route applies depends on timing and on whether you have other Self Assessment liabilities.
If You Are a Scottish Taxpayer
Scotland has its own income tax bands, but relief at source still reclaims 20% because 20% is the UK basic rate the system runs on. Anyone paying above the Scottish basic rate needs to claim the difference through Self Assessment.4mygov.scot. Current Rates – Scottish Income Tax
The Scottish rates for 2025/26 are:
- Starter rate (19%): £12,571 to £15,397
- Basic rate (20%): £15,398 to £27,491
- Intermediate rate (21%): £27,492 to £43,662
- Higher rate (42%): £43,663 to £75,000
- Advanced rate (45%): £75,001 to £125,140
- Top rate (48%): above £125,140
An intermediate-rate taxpayer claims an extra 1% on grossed-up contributions; a top-rate taxpayer claims 28% above the 20% already reclaimed. You do not need to calculate the Scottish rates yourself. Enter your grossed-up contributions in the same Question 1 box, and the system applies the correct rates to your income.
The Annual Allowance and When It Puts a Charge on Your Return
The annual allowance caps the total pension savings that get tax relief in a single tax year. For 2025/26 it is £60,000 or 100% of your relevant UK earnings, whichever is lower.7GOV.UK. Tax on Your Private Pension Contributions: Annual Allowance The limit covers everything paid into your pensions: your own contributions, employer contributions, and the basic-rate top-up.
If you did not use the full allowance in any of the previous three tax years, you can carry the unused portion forward, as long as you were a member of a registered pension scheme in each year concerned. The current year’s allowance is used first, then the oldest carried-forward year, working forward.7GOV.UK. Tax on Your Private Pension Contributions: Annual Allowance
Two boundaries are worth knowing even if they do not apply to most people. The allowance tapers for high earners: if threshold income exceeds £200,000 and adjusted income exceeds £260,000, the allowance drops by £1 for every £2 of adjusted income above £260,000, to a floor of £10,000 once adjusted income reaches £360,000.8MoneyHelper. Tapered Annual Allowance Explained And if you have already started drawing income flexibly from a defined contribution pension, a separate £10,000 money purchase annual allowance applies to further money purchase contributions, and carry forward cannot top it up.
Savings above the allowance trigger an annual allowance charge at your marginal rate.9GOV.UK. Pension Schemes Rates A higher-rate taxpayer £5,000 over would face a £2,000 charge. You declare the excess on the SA101 (Additional Information), which supplements the SA100. Box 10 on the SA101 is where the amount above the allowance goes.10GOV.UK. Self Assessment: Additional Information (SA101) Filing online, tick the box for supplementary pages when tailoring your return.
Rather than paying the charge yourself, you may be able to ask the pension scheme to pay it and reduce your pot accordingly. This is “scheme pays.” A scheme must offer it if the charge exceeds £2,000 and your contributions to that scheme exceeded £60,000 in the year. The deadline to request mandatory scheme pays is 31 July following the tax year the charge arose in. Some schemes offer voluntary scheme pays outside those thresholds, but they are not required to. Raise it with the scheme administrator well before the deadline.
Deadlines and Penalties
Paper returns must reach HMRC by midnight on 31 October following the end of the tax year. Online returns have until midnight on 31 January.11GOV.UK. Self Assessment Tax Returns: Deadlines For 2025/26, that means 31 October 2026 for paper and 31 January 2027 online.
Missing the deadline triggers an immediate £100 penalty even if no tax is owed. After that, penalties escalate:12GOV.UK. Self Assessment Tax Returns: Penalties
- After 3 months: £10 a day, up to £900
- After 6 months: 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is greater
- After 12 months: another 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is greater
Late claiming a refund does not carry these penalties in the same way, but you generally have four tax years from the end of the tax year concerned to claim overpaid tax, so old years of unclaimed higher-rate pension relief will eventually close off. If you have been in a higher tax band for several years without filing, it is worth checking each year separately.