Fidelity Pension tax relief

saajan_12

Hi all, 
I have a pension through my employer, held with Fidelity and invested across a couple of funds. I contribute monthly and so does my employer - both are deducted gross of tax from my payslip. Late March 2020, I wanted to add to my pension upto my allowance limits and given the dip in the market, as I though it would recover. Their help section states:
  

How much tax relief you get depends on the level of your contributions, how much you earn and the rate of Income Tax you pay. In many cases it’s all handled by your pension provider. However, if you pay tax at a rate above the basic rate of 20% and have contributions going into a personal pension, you may need to claim any extra tax relief you’re entitled to.

So, last year I paid in an additional lump sum, transferred directly to Fidelity in 80% of the amount I wanted to invest. I didn't claim the 20% tax relief on my tax return. However now, looking at my statements, it doesn't look like they have added the 20% to my account.
 * could I be missing something, and they have added it?
* Is there somewhere I missed where they specify they don't add the tax relief, and that I'd have to pay and then claim it myself?
 * What can be done now? Paying in the relief amount now doesn't really help, as I've lost out on some allowances and lost the gain since March 2020 which is significant this year. Thanks!

alewin

What do you mean "gross of tax", do you mean before tax is deducted?

If so then that is the arrangement your employer has with Fidelity, money is paid in before tax is deducted (gross) by your employer and then Fidelity do not claim any automatic tax relief because there is nothing to claim.

Costabit

Was this additional lump sum made by salary sacrifice?
If so, no xtra will be added

saajan_12

Yes, I mean before tax is deducted. That makes sense on the money going monthly from my employer via employer contributions / salary sacrifice. 

However the lump sum was transferred directly from my personal bank account to Fidelity via bank transfer (not via salary sacrifice). 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

They are two completely different methods.

Salary sacrifice means you arent contributing to a pension, you are agreeing to a lower salary in return for your employer contributing more to your pension.  Employer contributions do not get any tax relief added.

You seem to have made a "relief at source" contribution.  The pension company should have automatically added basic rate tax relief (this is 25% of the amount you paid) to this and you should have declared this contribution on your Self Assessment return (if you completed one).  Any higher rate tax relief due would be incorporated into your Self Assessment calculation.

You do not declare salary sacrifice contributions on your Self Assessment return because you didnt make them, your employer did and you are not entitled to any tax relief on employer contributions.

saajan_12

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

They are two completely different methods.

Salary sacrifice means you arent contributing to a pension, you are agreeing to a lower salary in return for your employer contributing more to your pension.  Employer contributions do not get any tax relief added.

You seem to have made a "relief at source" contribution.  The pension company should have automatically added basic rate tax relief (this is 25% of the amount you paid) to this and you should have declared this contribution on your Self Assessment return (if you completed one).  Any higher rate tax relief due would be incorporated into your Self Assessment calculation.

You do not declare salary sacrifice contributions on your Self Assessment return because you didnt make them, your employer did and you are not entitled to any tax relief on employer contributions.

Thanks, this was exactly my expectation. The monthly contributions are salary sacrifice (just mentioned for extra background). Not expecting any relief on these. 

The idea was to put in 45k, so I transferred 36k as a cash lump sum, expecting they would claim the extra 9k (ie 25% of the payment). I've only just sorted out my online account and statements etc, and it seems they've only accounted for the 36k - there is no additional 9k. If they had made it clear, I could have transferred the full 45k - that way I'd have gotten the gain over the past year on the full 45k, which was the intention. 

Does anyone know if Fidelity handle their pensions differently, or if I missed something? If not and if they should have added the 9k relief, is there anything that can be done now to get them to correct it? 

cloud_dog

If you've only recently sorted out online access, how was the transfer initiated?  Was it via your employer?

saajan_12

I phoned Fidelity, they provided bank details and I arranged a bank transfer. I do see they've added the amount I transferred to my account and invested it into the same funds as I had the existing pot. Didn't involve my employer at all as the amount was larger than one month's pay. 

ian16527

Send them a message via 'documents and messages'- they are usually promt to reply, same day normally

Albermarle

Normally the tax relief should arrive in your cash account about 6 weeks after the initial deposit .
Sounds like some kind of error, so you need to contact them .

cloud_dog

saajan_12 said:

I phoned Fidelity, they provided bank details and I arranged a bank transfer. I do see they've added the amount I transferred to my account and invested it into the same funds as I had the existing pot. Didn't involve my employer at all as the amount was larger than one month's pay. 

In Fidelity, if you click on Transactions there should be recent transactions and a tab for 'Pending'.  This should list the awaiting TR deposit.

I am assuming that Fidelity process this as a personal contribution.  Do you have any correspondence confirming this?