Higher & Additional Rate Pension Tax Relief Reclaims

Ensuring certainty in pension tax relief reclaims

The Issue

Whilst the basic rate of tax relief is collected at source on all personal pensions, SIPPs and many workplace pension schemes (such as NEST), contributions, it is your responsibility to collect the higher rate rebates directly from HMRC.

Many (but not all) do so through their self assessment tax returns, but those on PAYE - with no requirement to submit these forms - frequently overlook this, resulting in 75% of eligible higher rate taxpayers, and 53% of additional rate taxpayers, failing to collect their full pension tax relief.

As a result over £1.3bn remains outstanding and a further £250m goes unclaimed each year.

Reclaiming

HMRC has no responsibility to inform you of any outstanding pension tax relief you are owed, but upon receipt of a compliant instruction it must immediately return all money due to you over the last 4 years.

A £20,000 gross SIPP or pension contribution (either as a lump sum or through instalments) is due a £5,000 higher rate rebate and a £6,250 additional rate rebate (slightly more in Scotland).

You can request this money yourself, without our assistance, or alternatively we can calculate the rebate amount due and prepare an HMRC compliant reclaim instruction on your behalf.

Those Unaffected

If you are a member of a 'net pay' pension, such as public sector, final salary and some company pension schemes then you will not require our services as all higher and additional rate tax relief will have already been taken into consideration.

Equally, if you make all of your pension contributions via salary sacrifice then all income tax will have already been factored into your contributions and there is nothing more to reclaim.

All pension arrangements outside of these (know as relief at source schemes) require higher and additional tax to be reclaimed directly from HMRC.

Our Services

Online Fast App

Our Online Fast App is designed for all higher and additional rate taxpayers whose threshold earnings do not exceed £200,000. You provide us with the basic details needed to calculate your pension tax relief reclaim and we complete an HMRC compliant instruction for repayment. There is a flat fee of £38 per claim (tax year) or £98 to cover the last 4 tax years.

Bespoke Service

Our Bespoke Service is designed for additional rate taxpayers and those with more complex affairs. It provides a more detailed analysis of your position, factoring in considerations such as Pension Carry Forward and the Tapering Annual Allowance restriction. There is a £300 analysis fee followed by the same flat rates as above for your submissions.

Tax Year Deadlines

We can provide you with HRMC compliant claim instructions covering the last 4 tax years, but it is very important to note that there are deadlines. You will lose the ability to make any claim for the 2020/2021 after 5th April 2025 and so must act in advance of this date.

Future Tax Years

We can ensure you do not miss out on collecting any higher or additional rate pension/SIPP tax again. Simply tick the box in our application form and we will contact you at the beginning of each new tax year to calculate your rebate and create the correct HMRC instruction.

Higher & Additional Rate Pension Tax Relief By Numbers