How much can we contribute?

zagfles

jscol wrote: »

Thanks for all replies.
I realise I've been getting confused about employers contributions, increase in the value of her pension pot and tax relief.

I realise know that all I need to focus on is her own NHS pension contributions and what she has contributed to her RL pension in this tax year.

Thanks for clarifying my thinking.

Out of interest if I did get my final calculations wrong and contributed a little too much into her RL pension what would happen? Would we just not get tax relief on that portion over the 12k? Or would the excess contribution be returned?

That's not a mistake I plan to make! Just interested.

Either. You would have to tell RL that you exceeded the tax relief limit, so they know not to claim tax relief on that part. Or you can ask for a refund, it's one of the few occasions you are allowed a refund of pension contributions outside normal crystallisation. See https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/pensions-tax-manual/ptm045000#Refundecls

(Not relevant to you - but the same does not apply to the annual allowance - you can't ask for a refund for exceeding the AA)

I think some pension providers have T&Cs that you shouldn't exceed the limit as they don't want the hassle, so you'd need to check this also.

zagfles

Microbe65 wrote: »

Although probably not an issue for the OP, the Annual Allowance limit can be significant for full-time NHS employees.

A promotion onto a higher pay band (with the 16 X multiplier) can lead to a significant increase in pension value and utilise a considerable proportion of the £40k Annual Allowance. Fortunately, in these circumstances it may be possible to Carry Forward if there is unused allowance from previous tax years.

Yes, for someone with long service and a final salary pension, or a FS link for past service even if the pension has changed to a CARE type, a payrise can produce a massive spike in the pension input amount.

But very unlikey to apply to the OP, except perhaps if she used to be earning £60k and has 30 years FS service, and now works one day a week for £12k, and then gets a 10% payrise. That would blow the AA! But even then carryforwards can probably be used.