Pension Contributions Limit

bfgun

I understand that there is a limit of £60,000 per annum that can be paid into a pension before tax becomes applicable.

However, I am unsure whether the £60K is the limit across all means of contributions. 

For example, I contribute about £7600 PA into my company pension scheme and my employer matches this, so a total of £15,200 PA.

Separate to this, I pay £48,000 into a SIPP and the government adds £12,000 - Total £60,000.

Therefore, in total, I have about £75K going into a company pension scheme and a SIPP, of which I am contributing £55,600.

Is the £60K limit before tax becomes payable, based on just my contributions, or the total of all contributions from, in my case, employer and HMRC?

Thanks for your help.

TheSpectator

Most important question in all of this is how much do you earn?

The £60k annual allowance seems to be one of the most misunderstood issues on this board.

bfgun

TheSpectator said:

Most important question in all of this is how much do you earn?

The £60k annual allowance seems to be one of the most misunderstood issues on this board.

Good point, I earn £95K

400ixl

Unless you have carry forward allowance available, the £60k limit is across all pensions you have and includes the personal / company contributions and government tax rebates.

Aylesbury_Duck

Have you got unused allowance from the previous three years you could use?  The old allowance was £40k so you'll need to factor that in if you're going back a while.  It didn't rise retrospectively when the allowance was raised to £60k.

bfgun

400ixl said:

Unless you have carry forward allowance available, the £60k limit is across all pensions you have and includes the personal / company contributions and government tax rebates.

Thank you. I believe I do have carry forward allowances.

I didn't consider these previously, as this will be the first year that I have exceeded the £60K limit.

d6fs1l

Is your company scheme a defined contribution scheme?

bfgun

d6fs1l said:

Is your company scheme a defined contribution scheme?

Yes it is.

d6fs1l

In that case you would simply sum the contributions to your company scheme and SIPP regardless of who made them (i.e. including the relief added to the SIPP).

On the basis of the figures given, you would need to consider the carry forward.

bfgun

d6fs1l said:

In that case you would simply sum the contributions to your company scheme and SIPP regardless of who made them (i.e. including the relief added to the SIPP).

On the basis of the figures given, you would need to consider the carry forward.

Thank you. I will be looking into this to understand any liabilities I may have and what I can offset.

bfgun

Thank you to everyone that has replied. I appreciate your help.

Happy New Year.