UK Pension Tax Relief Calculator
Use this calculator to estimate how basic-rate pension tax relief boosts your contribution and whether you may be able to claim extra relief based on your income tax band.
Estimated total tax relief
£1,200
Your £2,400 contribution could become £3,000 in your pension.
Extra tax relief may still be available to claim
Provider top-up
£600
Added by your pension provider.
Extra relief to claim
£600
This may need claiming from HMRC.
Gross contribution
£3,000
Your payment after provider relief.
Effective net cost
£1,800
After all estimated relief.
This visual shows what you pay, what your provider adds, and any extra relief you may still be able to claim separately.
| Category | Treatment | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| You pay | Net contribution | £2,400 |
| Provider top-up | Added to your pension | £600 |
| Extra relief to claim | Claim separately | £600 |
| Gross contribution + extra relief | £3,600 | |
A pension payment of £2,400 under relief at source would be grossed up to about £3,000. Around £600 would be added by your provider, and you may be able to claim a further £600 in tax relief. That means the effective net cost could be about £1,800.
Because some of your income falls into a rate above 20%, you may be able to claim extra tax relief from HMRC.
Assumptions
Estimates use current 2026/27 tax bands and relief-at-source rules. This version does not model net pay arrangements, salary sacrifice, employer contributions, carry forward, tapered annual allowance, or the money purchase annual allowance.
It is a planning tool, not tax advice, and it does not optimise for complex Self Assessment or annual-allowance edge cases.
Pension tax relief is designed to make personal pension saving more affordable. In a relief-at-source pension, you pay a net amount and your pension provider claims basic-rate tax relief from HMRC to increase the amount that lands in your pension.
For many savers, that means every £80 paid personally becomes £100 in the pension. If your income is taxed above 20%, you may also be able to claim extra tax relief on top of that provider top-up.
This calculator models relief at source only. Under relief at source, the provider adds the initial 20% tax relief to your pension after you pay in your net contribution.
Net pay arrangements and salary sacrifice work differently because the tax effect happens through payroll rather than through a provider top-up. Those methods can still be valuable, but they need a different calculator and are outside this page's scope.
If part of your income falls into a tax rate above 20%, basic-rate relief inside the pension may not be the full story. Higher-rate, additional-rate, and some Scottish taxpayers can sometimes claim further relief from HMRC after the provider top-up.
This page estimates that extra relief by comparing your income-tax position before and after an equivalent grossed-up pension contribution. It is a practical planning estimate, not a filing tool for Self Assessment.
Gross pension contributions can reduce adjusted net income, which matters because adjusted net income affects the Personal Allowance taper above £100,000. In some cases, a pension contribution can restore part of your Personal Allowance and increase the total tax relief you get.
That is one reason pension contributions can be especially powerful around six-figure income levels. This calculator highlights those scenarios when the contribution appears to restore some allowance.
For most people, the standard annual allowance is £60,000 in 2026/27. In practice, the amount that can receive tax relief can also be limited by your earned income, although non-earners can usually still get relief on up to £3,600 gross.
This version uses that simplified limit only. It does not model tapered annual allowance, the money purchase annual allowance, carry forward, or defined benefit accrual, so use it as a planning tool rather than a full pension tax check.
Under relief at source, your pension provider normally adds 20% basic-rate tax relief to eligible personal contributions. If you pay tax above 20%, you may also be able to claim extra relief from HMRC.
Relief at source is a pension method where you pay a net contribution and your provider claims basic-rate tax relief from HMRC to gross it up inside the pension.
Sometimes. Higher-rate and additional-rate taxpayers, and some Scottish taxpayers above 20%, may need to claim extra pension tax relief through Self Assessment or by asking HMRC to adjust their tax code.
Relief-at-source pensions still receive a 20% provider top-up, but Scottish income tax rates can mean some people can claim a little extra relief above that depending on their band.
No. This version models relief-at-source pensions only. It does not include salary sacrifice, net pay arrangements, employer contributions, or annual-allowance edge cases.
Want to see your take-home pay after pension deductions? Try our salary calculator. Need to convert annual salary and hourly pay first? Use our Salary to Hourly Calculator. Comparing pension saving with other tax-efficient options? See our Lifetime ISA calculator. If you are weighing pension saving against cash saving, our interest and Personal Savings Allowance calculators can help with that side of the picture too. For forward-looking purchasing-power planning, use our Inflation Impact Calculator.
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