Your Guide To Claiming Pension Tax Relief for Higher and Additional Rate Taxpayers

If you’re paying into a pension and earning over £50,270, then you’re entitled to a financial rebate. Here’s how to make your pension tax relief claim.

Topping up a pension fund with your income is a smart financial move, but if your earnings exceed £50,270, then you probably aren’t taking advantage of the tax relief you could be entitled to. Millions of pounds in unclaimed tax relief for pensions go unclaimed every year, with higher earners missing out the most.

In this guide, we’ll show you exactly who can claim pension tax relief and how to do it whether you have an employer, are a sole trader, or are making Penfold pension contributions.

Pension Tax Relief Explained

Every time you put money into your pension from your income, you can actually claim back the income tax that was paid on the full amount, 100% of it, as part of government tax relief. You can do this for up to £60,000 of your yearly pension allowance.

It’s an incentive by the government to save towards your own retirement.

When you are on the basic rate of tax (20%), then your chosen pension provider will make an automatic claim to get the pension back, so that for every £80 you pay towards your pension, the government tops it up by an extra £20.

This means you get a 20% increase from the government without having to do anything!

However, if you’re on a higher income and are paying the higher rate of tax at 40%, or the 45% additional rate, then you are entitled to an even higher amount of relief, but you have to know how to claim it back yourself. Read on to discover how.

What is Pension Relief for Higher and Additional Rates of Tax?

When you’re a taxpayer with a high income over £50,270, you pay a higher rate of tax on it, which can be 40% or 45% depending on your earnings, but it’s even higher in Scotland, at 42% and 47%.

Most taxpayers know about the 20% tax boost you get for your contributions to a pension, but when you’re paying tax in this higher income bracket, you can claim even more, but you have to do it yourself or with the help of an accountant.

If you’re putting money away towards a future pension, you can claim back the tax that you’ve paid on it.

For example, a taxpayer on the 40% higher rate can make a claim for 40% back on the contributions towards pension, meaning you can add £10,000 to your pension for just £6,000.

If you’re on the additional rate of 45%, then you can make the same claim for tax relief, paying just £5,500 towards a £10,000 pension contribution.

Taxpayers on these rates in Scotland have a slightly increased tax of 42% for the higher rate, and 47% for the additional rate.

20% of your HMRC pension top-up is done automatically, but if you don’t claim the rest yourself, you can lose it.

Who is Eligible to Make A Pension Tax Relief Claim?

When you have an income which surpasses £50,270 in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, or over £43,663 in Scotland, then you can make a claim for this kind of tax relief. You can also claim it back if you’ve made contributions to pension funds like SIPP or Nest.

If you aren’t sure whether you can claim or not, read the section on workplace pensions, or contact our accountancy service.

How Much Pension Relief Can I Claim Back?

The amount of pension relief you’re able to claim back depends on a variety of factors, but we’ll give you an example here. Mark earns £53,000 and wants to top up his pension with £5,000.

The 20% relief is already calculated automatically, and £1,000 will be put into the pension by the provider, because that’s 20% of the £5,000.
As he’s on the higher rate, the income over that amount is £2,730
This means that an extra 20% can be claimed on that £2,730, which is £546
When you add this £546 to the basic rate of £1,000, the tax relief total is £1,546
Even though he’s added £5,000 to his pension, he’s actually only paid in £3,454
If he’d earned over £55,270, then the 40% relief would apply on the whole contribution, which would be £2,000, making a £5,000 contribution but only costing him £3,000.

So Mark can claim £546 for this tax year. Had he earned over £55,270 he could have claimed £1,000.

Just remember, the amount of relief you can claim is based on which tax bracket you are in, but if your contribution works out to be higher than your tax band, you’re only eligible for relief on part of i

Claiming Pension Relief in Higher and Additional Rate Tax Bands

An online service was introduced in early 2025 by the HMRC to streamline relief claims by higher-rate and additional-rate taxpayers, so you no longer need to send anything in writing, which is more efficient.

You can make the claim in one of two ways now. You can use the new online tool from HMRC, or you can calculate it in your Self-Assessment annual tax return. Here’s how to do it both ways:

Using the online HMRC tool

If you’re a higher-rate or additional-rate earner but don’t file a tax return, you can use the online service to calculate and claim back your pension relief. You need to be paying into either a workplace pension or a personal one, and pay above the basic 20% rate of tax. Before you make a start when claiming using the online tool, you’ll need to gather the following information:

Your unique government-issued National Insurance number
Your payroll reference from your place of work
The type of pension you pay into and your provider’s name
The total amount of contributions paid in every tax year
Proof that you’ve been paying into the pension

To make the claim, set up your Government Gateway ID and log in, fill out the pension contributions section, and then submit the claim.

Using your Self-Assessment tax return

This is the easiest way to claim is if you already file a Self-Assessment tax return, whether it’s for this tax year or previous ones. Use your tax code to claim the relief for the tax year you’re currently in.

All you need to do on your tax return is head to the section titled Tax Reliefs and enter the pension contributions you’ve made (which is the amount you yourself paid plus the 20% that was added by your provider).

If you’ve never filed a tax return, you can do it all online for efficiency. If your Self-Assessment has passed the deadline by 12 months or more, you can write to them directly and let them know the following details:

The tax year you want to claim for
Your National Insurance number
Your name and address
The name of your pension scheme
Your gross pre-tax earnings
Your personal contributions to the pension (include 20% basic tax but exclude contributions from your employer)

With this information, they can process your pension tax relief manually and send you the rebate.

If you haven’t completed a tax return before, you can register and complete your tax return here.

Alternatively Pier View Accounting can help you complete your self-assessment, find out more here.

If your self assessment is 12 months past the deadline you can write to HMRC using our Tax Relief Reclaim Letter Template.

What Happens After a Claim is Made?

When you receive your tax relief for the amount overpaid, it doesn’t necessarily need to be put back into your pension, and HMRC will ask how you want to receive it. It is possible to get the financial relief back:

As a direct rebate, where you get the money paid into your account or as a cheque
In a way that your tax bill gets reduced for that financial year
By your tax code being changed so that you pay less tax in the months ahead

However you choose to be paid out, it’s still a significant amount of money reclaimed that you can use however you see fit, a win-win situation just for taking the time to claim it back.

What Happens if Years Have Been Missed?

If you forget to make the claim for tax relief in a previous year, or simply didn’t know about it, don’t worry. It is possible to backdate the contributions you’ve made for up to 4 years! So if you’re filing for 2025/26, you can still get your contributions back all the way back until the 2021/22 tax year, and all tax years in between.

You make the claim for those years just the same as you have for the current tax year, using any of the methods we’ve already shown. But remember, the pension tax relief only counts for the years where you were in the higher rate or additional rate band.

Can I Get Pension Tax Relief From a Workplace Pension?

The good news is that if your contributions were made directly from your workplace pension, the tax relief should have already been calculated automatically at that higher rate, meaning you don’t have to make the claim yourself.

If the pension scheme for your workplace is set up where post-tax contributions are taken, you should ask your employer or the provider of the pension to confirm what kind of arrangement they have.

If they provide higher and additional rate forms of relief automatically, then you shouldn’t need to do anything, but if they are using relief at source, net pay, or salary sacrifice, then you should investigate the contributions further.

Understanding Tax Relief for Workplace Pensions

There are multiple ways your pension relief is calculated:

Relief at Source

This means that if you have an income above £50,270, you will need to make a claim yourself for the additional tax relief. This is because your pension contribution is deducted by the employer after regular tax and NI contributions have already been taken. The provider of the pension will then top up the pension at the basic 20% rate, regardless of your net income.

Net Pay

You don’t need to take any action when this is the case, as contributions towards a pension are taken pre-tax. You’ll receive your full relief whether you are in the basic, higher-rate, or additional-rate bands.

Salary Sacrifice

If this is your arrangement, then you also don’t need to take any action, as contributions are paid directly by your employer; therefore, they are not subject to the regular amount of income tax. When you are on this arrangement, you have already agreed to reduce a portion of your salaried income from the company in exchange for a pension contribution from the employer.

If you did not have salary sacrifice, the part of the pension contribution would have been subject to both NI contributions and income tax too, but as it’s paid by your employer, it is not taxed this way.

Make Your Pension Tax Relief Claim Today!

When you’re a higher-rate or additional-rate taxpayer, getting the tax back from pension relief is a great way to keep more money in your pocket, reduce your tax liability, and give your pension savings a boost.

The new tool from HMRC makes it easier than ever to claim, but if you need assistance, Pier View Accounting is here for you to get you the money from pension tax relief you’re entitled to. We can walk you through all of your tax contributions and take care of everything from start to finish.

Whether it’s £1,000 or £10,000 that you’re owed back, reach out to our team today and we’ll help you claim it quickly. Get in touch with us on 01275 605430 or click here.