{"id":711279,"date":"2026-01-21T17:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T17:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/711279\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T17:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T17:45:15","slug":"you-could-be-missing-thousands-in-pension-tax-relief-heres-how-to-claim-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/711279\/","title":{"rendered":"You could be missing thousands in pension tax relief \u2013 here’s how to claim it"},"content":{"rendered":"

The deadline for self-assessment is coming up fast and many people will be gearing up to hand money to the taxman. However, for others, it\u2019s time to give their pensions a boost as they reclaim unpaid tax relief on their pension contributions.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an issue that is not well understood, and risks people missing out on thousands of pounds that could be going into their pension and building their long-term resilience. Data shows that an estimated \u00a31.3bn worth of tax relief went unclaimed in the five years to 2022.<\/p>\n

Pension tax relief is set at your marginal rate of income tax, so if you pay basic-rate tax you get 20% relief on your pension contribution. It means that a \u00a3100 pension contribution only costs you \u00a380.<\/p>\n

If you are a higher or additional-rate taxpayer, the same contribution would only cost you \u00a360 or \u00a355, respectively. Scotland has further tax bands that could see you getting higher rates of tax relief.<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/strong>How to reduce inheritance tax for your loved ones<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

If you are a basic-rate taxpayer, you should receive the right amount of tax relief on your contributions automatically, but if you pay tax at a higher rate, there\u2019s a chance you could be missing out without realising it. It all depends on what type of pension you contribute to.<\/p>\n

\"Data<\/p>\n

Data shows that an estimated \u00a31.3bn worth of tax relief went unclaimed in the five years to 2022.<\/p>\n

(MoMo Productions via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

If you are in a salary sacrifice arrangement or what is known as a net pay arrangement, then you should get the right amount of tax relief. This is because under net pay your pension contribution is deducted from your salary before income tax is paid, and your scheme will then claim back tax relief at your marginal rate of income tax.<\/p>\n

However, if you contribute to what is known as a \u201crelief at source\u201d arrangement, then things work differently, with contributions deducted from your salary after tax. The employer takes 80% of the contribution from the employee\u2019s salary and then reclaims the extra 20% from HMRC. This means if you are entitled to tax relief at a higher rate, you need to claim it.<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/strong>How to plan for retirement as the state pension age rises<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Many private pensions, such as self-invested personal pensions, or SIPPs, as well as some workplace pensions, are set up as relief at source, so it\u2019s worth checking with your provider or HR department if you are unsure.<\/p>\n

The appropriate section on your self-assessment form will be the one labelled \u201ctax reliefs\u201d and you can backdate claims for up to four years. If you don\u2019t fill out self-assessment forms, you can claim the relief online through the gov.uk website or via post.<\/p>\n

Keeping hold of old pension statements will be really useful in helping you fill out forms and evidencing what was paid and when. You can receive your rebate direct to your bank account, so it\u2019s vital that you make sure the money gets paid into your pension to give your retirement a boost rather than leaving it in the bank.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for<\/strong> Apple<\/strong><\/a> and<\/strong> Android<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deadline for self-assessment is coming up fast and many people will be gearing up to hand money…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,78286,474,22664,213106,175690,135182,31338,2499,9715,213107,16,15],"class_list":["post-711279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-contribution","tag-finance","tag-income-tax","tag-marginal-rate","tag-pension-contribution","tag-pension-contributions","tag-pension-tax-relief","tag-personal-finance","tag-tax-relief","tag-tax-reliefs","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115934339011720913","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}