Lump sum into pension?

Rowbo

Hi there,
we have 20k to add to our long term savings and are just exploring some options.
My husband is a higher rate tax payer. Is it possible to put a lump sum into his pension and some how get the tax relief? Or would this need to be done out of his monthly pay? Kind of drip fed?
We can’t quite get our heads around how this is done.

Any advice appreciated!

Albermarle

He can probably add a lump sum to his workplace pension ( best just to double check this first ) or increase his monthly contributions. Which is best depends largely on how the contributions are taken from his salary ( not all employers do it the same way ) 
Suggest you spend some time reading through the threads on this forum , there are numerous ones asking questions about higher rate tax relief. Also following these links could be useful
https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/discount-pensions/

mark55man

your OH would have had to have enough taxable income this year to cover his normal contributions and the £20K top up.  If this number is under £40K then no problem as that is your Annual Allowance (assuming you haven't taken any pension benefits from a DC pot)

If over £40K then you can claw back unused allowance from the previous 3 years - but note the money has to be earned this year.

Further, you will only get HRT relief on that for the amount of tax over the HRT that you paid (ie if OH was only £5K into the HRT you would only get £5K HRT relief.  Although nothing to stop you doing this over the next 4 years with some intermediate saving scheme until then

Also the BR tax relief will be credited automatically by your pension provider, but the HRT will have to be claimed on your tax return     

a bit complicated - but worthwhile and sensible.

Avgeek

I have a very similar question - I have £30k to pay in to one of my pension plans, or split it over a few (I don't know yet which ones). I'm having trouble finding out how much 40% tax I have paid this year so how much I have left to pay in this year to get the HRT. HMRC's webchat service has been absolutely useless - they did not want to help me one little bit. They said ask your provider. Would my provider (or providers) be able to tell me how much I can pay in this year? I also need to know how my work pension affects this - I do salary sacrifice so all getting a bit fuzzy in my little brain. Also, can the HRT go back 3 years to save me waiting until next year to invest the remainder? Also, this money has not really been earned this year - mostly savings and travel refunds I've received for this year so I don't know how that would work.  I thought this was going to be easy but not as easy as I thought. Appreciate any pointers here as ever.