Which SIPP platforms give immediate tax relief?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

intalex said:

Interesting thread and good learnings, I too was a little annoyed when I moved from Scottish Widows to AJ Bell and saw the crediting of tax relief change from instant to almost 2 months later... it is annoying with investments when you want to acquire units with the whole lot at once.

There is a plan to speed the process up, involving quicker payment of the tax relief to the scheme.  This may not impact the person making the contribution though.  

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pensions-schemes-newsletter-170-may-2025/newsletter-170-may-2025#relief-at-source

masonic

dont_use_vistaprint said:

Aretnap said:

No platform actually adds the tax relief immediately. The tax relief is paid by HMRC some time after they are informed by the platform that you have made your monthly contribution. The whole process takes several weeks and there's no real way to speed it up as HMRC have no incentive to do it any faster than they already do. 

What some platform do is give you an interest free loan equivalent to the tax relief when you make the contribution, then claim it back from the tax relief when it arrives. Obviously providing you with an interest free loan has a cost - and that cost is a lot more now than it was when interest rates were close to zero a few years ago. I vaguely remember that a few years ago some of the big SIPP platforms did pre-fund, but if they have stopped now interest rates have gone up it wouldn't be a huge surprise.

I get what you’re saying but it’s inaccurate to describe it as an interest free loan, because that’s not what it is. 

They simply credit your account and reconcile it later internally when they get payment. There is no agreement with the customer for a loan

What happens if HMRC refuse the claim?