Allocate unsued pension contribution tax allowance to different tax year

majoma

This has probably been asked before but I can't seem to find a corresponding thread. I had an overpayment into my pension fund through my employer in the tax year 2018/19. I do have unused tax allowances for the previous years and 2019/20. The payment was processed through the company payroll for 2018/19 though the actual payment was made after April 6th, 2019. The pension company has (with year's delay) notified me of a possible overpayment and potential tax liability. I have submitted my tax returns for all years up to and including 2019/20 and had no queries from HMRC. Can I assume HMRC has attributed the relevant overpayment to the previous tax year's allowance or do I need to contact HMRC to arrange for the split over two tax years - and if so is there a particular way to do this? Thank you for all your help.

Albermarle

Can you just clarify what you mean by The pension company has (with year's delay) notified me of a possible overpayment and potential tax liability.
There is an annual allowance of max £40K that you can pay into your pension that includes your contributions + tax relief and employer contributions . Is it this that you have exceeded in 2018/19?
Or alternatively did you make personal contributions and received more tax relief than you were entitled to ( for example your contribution + tax relief was greater than your actual earnings ) 
These two seperate issues often get muddled up , so if you could clarify which one applies that would be useful .

Brynsam

majoma said:

This has probably been asked before but I can't seem to find a corresponding thread. I had an overpayment into my pension fund through my employer in the tax year 2018/19. I do have unused tax allowances for the previous years and 2019/20. The payment was processed through the company payroll for 2018/19 though the actual payment was made after April 6th, 2019. The pension company has (with year's delay) notified me of a possible overpayment and potential tax liability. I have submitted my tax returns for all years up to and including 2019/20 and had no queries from HMRC. Can I assume HMRC has attributed the relevant overpayment to the previous tax year's allowance or do I need to contact HMRC to arrange for the split over two tax years - and if so is there a particular way to do this? Thank you for all your help.

As the payment was made after the end of the tax year 2018/19, it is normally allocated to the tax year in which the pension provider actually receives it - which begs the question as to why they think there may be an overpayment. Worth checking with them direct.