You can use this calculator to find out how much tax on pension contributions you may be able to reclaim from HMRC if your pension scheme uses ‘relief at source’. Note that not everyone is eligible for a tax rebate – the full breakdown of who can claim is below – and there is a maximum limit going back 4 years if you do make a claim.
Fill in the fields above to estimate the rebate you could be entitled to.
1. Enter your annual income before tax for as many tax years as you like.
2. For those same tax years, enter the pension contributions you made. Do not include those made by your employer.
3. Press calculate.
Note: this calculator is for people who are contributing to a “relief at source” pension. Please check your pension scheme if you are unsure.
The calculator will determine whether you are a higher rate or additional rate taxpayer and if you are therefore able to claim a tax rebate from HMRC on your pension contributions.
If you contribute to a “relief at source” pension, your provider will claim basic-rate pension tax relief (25% of what you pay which is 20% of the gross contribution). For example, if you paid £2,000 into your pension, this would automatically be topped up by £500.
However, if you are a higher-rate taxpayer or additional-rate taxpayer, you are eligible for an additional tax rebate, which you will need to reclaim from HMRC.
If you earned £80,000 in a year and contributed £4,000 to your pension, you would get £1,000 added at source, but you would be eligible to claim back another £1,000 for a total of 40% tax relief. This is not applied automatically so you need to claim it via a tax return.
If you are not in one of these tax brackets, you will see a result of £0 because your pension tax relief of 20% is already applied at source. This doesn’t mean you don’t get any pension tax relief – it means that it will have already been applied to your pension pot and you don’t need to make a claim.
Current limits mean that you can only claim a tax rebate for the previous 4 tax years. This means that if you have been paying a higher rate of tax for more than 4 years and haven’t claimed back your additional tax, you are no longer able to make that claim from HMRC.
As an example, someone who earns £90,000 per year (before tax) and contributes 5% to their workplace pension (£4,500) for 10 years can only claim £4,500 (£1,125 per year for 4 years) rather than the full £11,250, which would be the rebate for all 10 years.
If you are interested in making a claim, you can also read our full guide on how to claim tax relief on pension contributions.
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