Pension tax relief calculator

Pay £80 into a pension and your provider adds £20 automatically, basic-rate relief, which every UK taxpayer gets without asking. The part routinely lost is the rest: higher-rate taxpayers must claim their extra relief themselves, through self-assessment or a tax-code adjustment, and HMRC does not chase you to do it. On the 2026/27 rates (checked 28 August 2026), a 40% taxpayer putting £4,000 into a personal pension sees £5,000 land in the pot but is also owed £1,000 back personally, money that goes unclaimed surprisingly often, and claims can be backdated four tax years. Inside the £100,000-£125,140 personal allowance taper the true relief rate passes 60%, making it the best pension deal in the UK system. This calculator separates the automatic top-up from the claimable remainder at your actual marginal rate, computed rather than assumed.

Calculator

Figures update as you type. Press Calculate to jump to the result.

Annual salary

You pay into your pension

Where you live

£5,000 lands in your pension. Its true cost to you:

£4,000.00

20% total relief, £1,000.00 added automatically by your provider.

Relief-at-source arrangement (personal pensions and most SIPPs). Workplace salary sacrifice works differently and saves NI too. Annual allowance and taper rules for very high earners are not modelled.

How pension tax relief works

Contributions come from pre-tax income, so the state returns the tax you paid on them. In a relief-at-source scheme that happens in two parts: the provider reclaims basic-rate relief (your £80 becomes £100 in the pot), and anything above basic rate is repaid to you, through self-assessment, a tax-code change, or a written claim, rather than into the pension. Non-earners can even contribute £2,880 a year and see it grossed to £3,600. The relief is capped by the annual allowance (£60,000 for most people, tapered for very high earners) and by your relevant earnings, beyond this page's scope, but the reason six-figure contributions need advice.

Does this work for a SIPP?

Yes — this is also how a SIPP contribution works. A SIPP is a relief-at-source scheme, so you pay in from net income, the provider claims the 20% basic-rate top-up automatically, and higher-rate relief comes back to you via self-assessment or a tax-code adjustment. The calculator's figures apply to a SIPP unchanged; the only difference from a workplace scheme is that nothing goes through payroll, so no National Insurance is saved.

Where relief is most valuable

The £100,000-£125,140 taper is the best pension deal in the UK system, contributions there earn relief above 60% because they rebuild the personal allowance as they go. Around £60,000-£80,000 with children, the Child Benefit clawback adds a similar bonus. And through a workplace salary sacrifice scheme, National Insurance savings stack on top of everything this page shows.

2026/27 rates, checked 28 August 2026 by Hadi. Method on the about page.

How to use the pension tax relief calculator

1
Enter your salary and your contribution.
2
Choose your scheme type: relief at source, net pay or salary sacrifice.
3
Read the relief you get automatically and the relief you have to claim yourself.
4
Check the real cost per £100 into the pension under your arrangement.

When should you use the pension tax relief calculator?

Use it if you pay higher-rate tax, because relief-at-source schemes reclaim only basic rate and the rest is yours to claim.

You pay higher-rate tax

Relief at source schemes only reclaim basic rate. The rest is yours to claim.

You do not know your scheme type

The three arrangements look similar on a payslip and produce different results.

You are near a threshold

Relief inside the £100,000 taper is worth 60% or more.

You have never claimed higher-rate relief

Claims can be backdated four tax years.

Where to go next

All 51 calculators share one tested engine, so a figure from the pension tax relief calculator agrees with every other page here. See the full calculator index or the pay and tax guides.