Student load overpayments due to defined contribution pension scheme

Hugsi

I was browsing the Student loans guide on the main site. Under section 3 "How do students loan repayments affect my pension contributions." the guide states:
However, some defined benefit schemes take the pension payment pre-tax, but after national insurance. In which case, you'll have slightly higher student loan contributions.

Defined contribution schemes (this is what most people now have). If you pay into a personal pension, whether monthly via your company payroll or directly as a lump sum, student loan contributions are worked out using your gross pay (unless you pay into your pension by salary sacrifice).

You can do a self-assessment tax return to have the pension contributions taken into account. But decide if it's worth the hassle of doing a self-assessment return if you don't already. For each £1,000 you pay into your pension (£800 net) each year, you could pay around £90 extra in student loan repayments.

I pay a sizeable amount into my pension leading to hundreds of pounds overpayment on my student loan each year and so decided to register for self-self-assement for this reason. My attempt to register was rejected, the feedback on my SA1 was "We can't register you for Self Assessment because the information you've given on the form shows that you don't meet the conditions for Self Assessment."

Has anyone any experience in this area? Is the guide on the website incorrect? Or why would my attempt to register for the purpose described above have been rejected?

Any input would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

Marcon

Hugsi said:

I was browsing the Student loans guide on the main site. Under section 3 "How do students loan repayments affect my pension contributions." the guide states:
However, some defined benefit schemes take the pension payment pre-tax, but after national insurance. In which case, you'll have slightly higher student loan contributions.

Defined contribution schemes (this is what most people now have). If you pay into a personal pension, whether monthly via your company payroll or directly as a lump sum, student loan contributions are worked out using your gross pay (unless you pay into your pension by salary sacrifice).

You can do a self-assessment tax return to have the pension contributions taken into account. But decide if it's worth the hassle of doing a self-assessment return if you don't already. For each £1,000 you pay into your pension (£800 net) each year, you could pay around £90 extra in student loan repayments.

I pay a sizeable amount into my pension leading to hundreds of pounds overpayment on my student loan each year and so decided to register for self-self-assement for this reason. My attempt to register was rejected, the feedback on my SA1 was "We can't register you for Self Assessment because the information you've given on the form shows that you don't meet the conditions for Self Assessment."

Has anyone any experience in this area? Is the guide on the website incorrect? Or why would my attempt to register for the purpose described above have been rejected?

Any input would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

I wonder if this helps: https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/students/student-loans/plan-1-student-loans/i-have-fill-tax-return-how-do-self-assessment