Carrying forward 2015/16 SIPP (Higher rate earner)

mista3

I've had a personal pension scheme active for over 5 years but haven't paid into it over this period (yes I know).

In 2015/16 I earned £71K before tax.

What are my options for topping up my SIPP in this tax year... can I carry forward say £5K and get the standard 20% from the Gov AND the additional 20% tax relief?

(Trying to get my head around this before I post my tax return for last year).

Thank you.

bigadaj

You can carry forward an unused allowance from a previous tax year to allow you to contribute more than £40k so long as you have the earnings for the current tax year.

You can't contribute retrospectively to reduce tax from a previous tax year, so pension contributions needs to have been made by April 5th 2016 to get tax relief for the 2015/16 tax year.