Pension independent on my employer and other questions

jem16

amandajc wrote: »

I was hoping to reach at least the same kind of levels next year and was relying on being able to use carry over salary allowance from previous years as I was earning more in the past (I am now part time) But it seems this is not allowed? I may need to review my plans. Thanks for the warning. :-)

No it's not allowed.

As far as tax relief is concerned that is limited to 100% of your earnings in the tax year you make the contribution.

The only thing that carry forward allows is you to be able to contribute more than the annual allowance of £40k and for those earning much higher than this it can be useful. For you earning £26k it's not going to help as you're well within the £40k limit.

amandajc

Thanks jem16 (and jamesd). This fact had completely escaped me. I'll put any spare money in my S&S Isa instead and maybe plan on working a little longer. Thinking about it I can completely see the logic behind the rule.

And the amount I am allowed to "add" is the figure arrived at when the tax relief has been added by HMRC?

jamesd

amandajc wrote: »

I ... was relying on being able to use carry over salary allowance from previous years as I was earning more in the past (I am now part time) But it seems this is not allowed?

As jem16 confirmed, right, not allowed. Your limit this year is your £26,000 of earned income and the £40,000 limit is currently irrelevant to you because you can't exceed it with your earned income.

Yes, this is the figure after tax relief has been added.

It used to be possible to use income from past years so your question makes sense. I'm not sure when that was removed so it's more than ten years ago and probably less than twenty.