Retrospective claim for tax relief on gross pension contributions

Tafkars

Hi there

I have realised that I have not been entering the gross amount of pension contributions (i.e. my personal contributions plus the tax relief) on my tax return for as long as I can remember.

Is it possible to retrospectively claim back the relief for those previous years? If so, is there a limit on how far back any retrospective claim can go (I'm assuming 4 years)?

And finally, assuming the mechanics of requesting a refund are to include the relevant sums on the tax return - on which section should the values be included? For example, should I just take whatever Gross contribution I have made in 24-25, plus the previously unclaimed amounts for the past 4 years and include the total in Box 1 of the 'Tax Relief' section?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

molerat

https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns/corrections

SacredStephan

You would already have received basic rate tax relief. Are you a 40% taxpayer? Were your contributions made using relief-at-source or netpay?

SVaz

You put in the net amount on the SA form and it automatically adds the tax relief.  

I’m looking at my SA form for 2023-24. 

Tafkars

molerat said:

(link to correcting a SA return which I'm not allowed to post as a newbie)

Thanks, but that doesn't address the question. In any way.

Tafkars

SacredStephan said:

You would already have received basic rate tax relief. Are you a 40% taxpayer? Were your contributions made using relief-at-source or netpay?

I am a 40% taxpayer and my contributions are RAS. I understand that I have already received the basic tax relief.

SacredStephan

This may help:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-tax-relief-on-your-private-pension-payments

Tafkars

SVaz said:

You put in the net amount on the SA form and it automatically adds the tax relief.  

I’m looking at my SA form for 2023-24. 

Thanks. That's sort of my point: I have read in a recent report that we should be entering the Gross amount (personal contributions + basic rate relief. I have only been entering the personal contributions).

af1963

Tafkars said:

molerat said:

(link to correcting a SA return which I'm not allowed to post as a newbie)

Thanks, but that doesn't address the question. In any way.

Take a closer look.  It explains the process you need to follow.  You'd be correcting an error in previous self assessment returns and claiming back a resulting overpayment of tax. For anything more than 12 months after the relevant deadline, you need to write to them, and you can claim overpayments for up to 4 years after the end of the relevant tax year ( so currently, up to 5 April, you can claim for 2020-21 and later years.)

SVaz

Ah yes, as a 40% payer, you do need to put the gross in order to get the extra 20%. 

Tafkars

af1963 said:

Tafkars said:

molerat said:

(link to correcting a SA return which I'm not allowed to post as a newbie)

Thanks, but that doesn't address the question. In any way.

Take a closer look.  It explains the process you need to follow.  You'd be correcting an error in previous self assessment returns and claiming back a resulting overpayment of tax. For anything more than 12 months after the relevant deadline, you need to write to them, and you can claim overpayments for up to 4 years after the end of the relevant tax year ( so currently, up to 5 April, you can claim for 2020-21 and later years.)

Understood and appreciate you taking the time to post the clarification, thanks.