SA Pension Section

[paulatscafell]

I hope someone is able to clarify something for me. I am employed and have been auto enrolled into a pension with NEST. Pension payments are taken after tax has been deducted and NEST claim tax relief at source . I am filling in my self assessment for the 2023/24 tax year. I am in the section 'Paying into registered pension schemes and overseas pension. One of the boxes is 'Payments to your employer's scheme which were not deducted from your pay before tax'. Whilst it appears that I fit into that category, the help notes have left me confused as one part states 'Do not include any personal contributions that had relief at source, such as a group personal pension scheme'. Should I enter my NEST pension contributions into this section? For further clarity I am not a higher rate tax payer, where most of the internet search results on this subject are answering questions on. Filling in this box reduces the tax I owe on savings interest but I want to be sure that I am not doing so mistakenly. Thanks in advance for any advice offered.

[genou]

Unless your employer is doing something very odd, the answer is do not enter anything.

[chas49]

Moderator Message:
I've removed my own post here as it was at best confusing, if not incorrect (chas49)

[chris]

Whilst it will make no difference if you are a basic rate tax payer, unless you put the amount you have paid in this box and you are a higher rate taxpayer, you will not get the extra 20% relief, so I would say that you definitely should put it in. The only way I can justify that note is that despite the note to say that pension payments taken 'after tax has been deducted', the 'relief at source' to my mind is that the employer has got the tax back BEFORE it goes into your pension (ie a salary sacrifice scheme). However, this would obviously (to you and me) not be a pension payment taken after tax has been deducted and hence the confusion from that note.

I would always put any pension payment out of net salary in this box. You would never get the basic rate of tax back (as that is done by the pension administrator and added to your contribution) so I can't see any problem with entering the amount there, but if you are in the 40% bracket, there is no other way of telling them on the tax form apart from this box, that you are due the other 20%.

I have had a few employees who I have told to notify the tax office of their pension contributions from an employer's scheme (out of their net salary) for this very reason and they have received backdated refunds of tax because they were 40% taxpayers.

[fisher]

I agree with Chris. The main effect of filling in the box on your tax return is to raise your standard rate band in relation to the pension payment.

If your pension payment comes out of salary that has already had income tax taken off you should fill in the box. If your pension payment comes from gross salary, before tax is taken off then don't fill in the box.