SIPP contributions and whether a self assessment tax return is required

SarahB16

Very grateful for opinions on the following please.  

I would like to open a new SIPP in January 2026 but am unsure whether a self assessment tax return would be required for the year 6th April 2026 to 5th April 2027. 

I'm going to use a simple example to illustrate my question:   

Gross salary (after employee pension deductions): £60,000 (higher rate tax payer)
LGPS AVC contribution/deductions:  £5,000 
Taxable pay: £55,000
SIPP contributions: £10,000   

Before the SIPP contributions I would be a higher rate tax payer but it's the £10,000 SIPP contributions that are confusing me. I'm thinking a tax return would be required otherwise how can the additional tax relief for the amount above £50,270 be claimed?

Can I also check in terms of savings interest i.e. can £1,000 or £500 be received tax free?. Would my revised taxable pay be classed as £45,000 or would it be £55,000? 

This is my first SIPP that I will be opening and am unsure of the above points.  

Very grateful for your help.   

El_Torro

You don't need to file a self assessment tax return just because you are looking to claim some pension tax relief. Instead you can tell HMRC on the gov.uk website about it and they will adjust your tax code. 

In the scenario you give you would go from being a 40% tax payer to a 20% tax payer, so you could earn £1,000 of interest without paying tax on it. 

You may know this already but to confirm: If you want to add £10,000 to a SIPP then make sure you add £8,000 net, which becomes £10,000 once the pension provider has claimed back some of the tax relief. 

Marcon

SarahB16 said:

Very grateful for opinions on the following please.  

I would like to open a new SIPP in January 2026 but am unsure whether a self assessment tax return would be required for the year 6th April 2026 to 5th April 2027. 

I'm going to use a simple example to illustrate my question:   

Gross salary (after employee pension deductions): £60,000 (higher rate tax payer)
LGPS AVC contribution/deductions:  £5,000 
Taxable pay: £55,000
SIPP contributions: £10,000   

Before the SIPP contributions I would be a higher rate tax payer but it's the £10,000 SIPP contributions that are confusing me. I'm thinking a tax return would be required otherwise how can the additional tax relief for the amount above £50,270 be claimed?
   

You claim online: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-tax-relief-on-your-private-pension-payments

SarahB16 said:

 Would my revised taxable pay be classed as £45,000 or would it be £55,000? 

This is my first SIPP that I will be opening and am unsure of the above points.  

Very grateful for your help.   

Pension contributions don't reduce your taxable pay unless they are paid by salary sacrifice or the 'net pay' method - neither of which will apply here.

Marcon

This makes very helpful reading: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6604690/tax-relief-on-pension-contributions-for-higher-rate-tax-payers#latest

See the post from @hugheskevi on 1 May.

SarahB16

Marcon said:

SarahB16 said:

Very grateful for opinions on the following please.  

I would like to open a new SIPP in January 2026 but am unsure whether a self assessment tax return would be required for the year 6th April 2026 to 5th April 2027. 

I'm going to use a simple example to illustrate my question:   

Gross salary (after employee pension deductions): £60,000 (higher rate tax payer)
LGPS AVC contribution/deductions:  £5,000 
Taxable pay: £55,000
SIPP contributions: £10,000   

Before the SIPP contributions I would be a higher rate tax payer but it's the £10,000 SIPP contributions that are confusing me. I'm thinking a tax return would be required otherwise how can the additional tax relief for the amount above £50,270 be claimed?
   

You claim online: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-tax-relief-on-your-private-pension-payments

SarahB16 said:

 Would my revised taxable pay be classed as £45,000 or would it be £55,000? 

This is my first SIPP that I will be opening and am unsure of the above points.  

Very grateful for your help.   

Pension contributions don't reduce your taxable pay unless they are paid by salary sacrifice or the 'net pay' method - neither of which will apply here.

This is extremely helpful @Marcon, thank you very much.

Please can I confirm the following. 

Due to my LGPS AVC contributions in the tax year 6th April 2025 to 5th April 2026 my taxable pay is below £50,270. Therefore let's say I make £16,000 of SIPP contributions in January to March 2026 these will be grossed up to £20,000 by my SIPP provider but as there is no higher rate tax to be claimed back I presume I do not need to claim anything back using the link to that form?  

Obviously for the tax year 6th April 2026 to 5th April 2027 after 5th April 2027 I would need to claim back the higher rate tax if I make SIPP contributions and my taxable pay is above £50,270 (due to making a lower amount of AVC contributions) but I just want to check re the SIPP contributions I make in January to March 2026. I believe the 20% tax relief will be claimed automatically by my SIPP provider so there is nothing required of me re the tax year to 5th April 2026?  

Thank you, as always, as this is extremely helpful.   

Marcon

SarahB16 said:

Marcon said:

SarahB16 said:

Very grateful for opinions on the following please.  

I would like to open a new SIPP in January 2026 but am unsure whether a self assessment tax return would be required for the year 6th April 2026 to 5th April 2027. 

I'm going to use a simple example to illustrate my question:   

Gross salary (after employee pension deductions): £60,000 (higher rate tax payer)
LGPS AVC contribution/deductions:  £5,000 
Taxable pay: £55,000
SIPP contributions: £10,000   

Before the SIPP contributions I would be a higher rate tax payer but it's the £10,000 SIPP contributions that are confusing me. I'm thinking a tax return would be required otherwise how can the additional tax relief for the amount above £50,270 be claimed?
   

You claim online: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-tax-relief-on-your-private-pension-payments

SarahB16 said:

 Would my revised taxable pay be classed as £45,000 or would it be £55,000? 

This is my first SIPP that I will be opening and am unsure of the above points.  

Very grateful for your help.   

Pension contributions don't reduce your taxable pay unless they are paid by salary sacrifice or the 'net pay' method - neither of which will apply here.

This is extremely helpful @Marcon, thank you very much.

Please can I confirm the following. 

Due to my LGPS AVC contributions in the tax year 6th April 2025 to 5th April 2026 my taxable pay is below £50,270. Therefore let's say I make £16,000 of SIPP contributions in January to March 2026 these will be grossed up to £20,000 by my SIPP provider but as there is no higher rate tax to be claimed back I presume I do not need to claim anything back using the link to that form?  

Obviously for the tax year 6th April 2026 to 5th April 2027 after 5th April 2027 I would need to claim back the higher rate tax if I make SIPP contributions and my taxable pay is above £50,270 (due to making a lower amount of AVC contributions) but I just want to check re the SIPP contributions I make in January to March 2026. I believe the 20% tax relief will be claimed automatically by my SIPP provider so there is nothing required of me re the tax year to 5th April 2026?  

Thank you, as always, as this is extremely helpful.   

Your SIPP provider will automatically claim basic rate tax relief on your personal contributions to your SIPP, so if you haven't paid higher rate tax in the (tax) year in which you make contributions to your SIPP, you don't need to take any further action in respect of that tax year. 

Albermarle

Be aware that the basic rate tax relief will take some weeks to appear in your SIPP, as they wait until they get the actual money from HMRC. I think it can be anything between 6 to 11 weeks.

SimonSeys

I’m a Civil Servant who did something similar.  

You can fill in the online form here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-tax-relief-on-your-private-pension-payments

For contritions up to £10k, then you can do it over the phone.  

I actually wanted to fill in Self-Assessment as I thought it would be easier, but despite asking I wasn’t allowed to go through SA. 

Claiming back higher rate tax from a previous year took a couple of months.
Changes to in-year tax code for payments made in year took around a month for HMRC to read and review my documents, but then was quick.
Grossing-up by 20% due to basic tax was six weeks with Vanguard 

SarahB16

Thank you @Albermarle and @SimonSeys this is extremely helpful.

I would be very grateful if you could kindly confirm my understanding of what I need to do is correct.

Year ending 5th April 2026
In January-March 2026 I intend to open a SIPP and make a net contribution of £12,000. Due to my LGPS AVC contributions in the year to 5th April 2026 my taxable pay is reduced below £50,270 (this is clearly shown on my payslips) so there is nothing I need to do (i.e. no form to fill in) and I simply wait for the grossing up/20% tax relief to be added in due course to my SIPP and noting this could take between 6 to 11 weeks.  

Year ending 5th April 2027
In the following tax year (year ending 5th April 2027) I intend to keep my AVC contributions at the current level which reduces my taxable pay to below £50,270 so again there is nothing I need to do re completing the online form (kindly shared in the link above). 

Year ending 5th April 2028 
The following year, 6th April 2027 to 5th April 2028, I intend to reduce my AVC contributions to 50% of what I am currently contributing. This means my taxable pay is above £50,270 for the first time due to the reduced level of AVC contributions. I will continue with my SIPP contributions (likely in a lump sum amount perhaps twice in this tax year). This will be my first year when I need to fill in the online form (referred to above). I have a question below regarding when I need to fill in this form please. 

Question: A question I have regarding the online form is do I complete the online form after the tax year end? I presume I must as it is only then that I can inform HMRC of the net SIPP contributions that I made in the tax year? Therefore after 5th April 2028 I need to complete the online form for the year ending 5th April 2028 in order that my tax code can be adjusted so I receive the higher rate tax relief (received via my net salary) re the SIPP contributions I made in the year ending 5th April 2028? 

Very grateful, as always, for the opinions kindly shared.   

kempiejon

Albermarle said:

Be aware that the basic rate tax relief will take some weeks to appear in your SIPP, as they wait until they get the actual money from HMRC. I think it can be anything between 6 to 11 weeks.

Hargreaves Lansdowne and AJ Bell take something like that, I was very surprised to find iWeb now Scottish Widows claim in a couple of working days. 

DavidT67

kempiejon said:

Albermarle said:

Be aware that the basic rate tax relief will take some weeks to appear in your SIPP, as they wait until they get the actual money from HMRC. I think it can be anything between 6 to 11 weeks.

Hargreaves Lansdowne and AJ Bell take something like that, I was very surprised to find iWeb now Scottish Widows claim in a couple of working days. 

The HMRC claim takes the same time for all, it's just that some companies are willing to prefund your account, typically the traditional insurance based pension providers.