Which tax year's allowance does the tax relief credit count towards?

[AppleCrumble]

Interactive Investor will claim the basic tax relief on SIPP contributions but it can take 6-11 weeks after the contribution to be credited.

https://www.ii.co.uk/ii-accounts/sipp/faq#relief

So, if I made a contribution late in the tax year, e.g. March, the tax relief would not be credited until the following tax year.

Which tax year's allowance does the tax relief credit count towards? The previous year (when the contribution was made), or the current year (when the credit was made)?

[PinkDalek]

[Which tax year's allowance does the tax relief credit count towards? The previous year (when the contribution was made), or the current year (when the credit was made)?

The former.

See, for example, https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/pensions-tax-manual/ptm044100

Contributions qualifying for tax relief

An individual can have tax relief in respect of any relievable pension contributions provided the individual is:

an active member of a registered pension scheme, and
a relevant UK individual

in the tax year in which the contribution is paid.

Tax relief can only be claimed for the tax year that the contribution is actually made.

[AppleCrumble]

Thanks. That's helpful.

But now I'm confused about something else.

In the linked document it states:

"Unused tax relief can no longer be carried backwards or forwards to other tax years."

On the Pensions Advisory website it states:

Carry forward of unused allowance from the previous three years can allow larger contributions to receive tax relief.

https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org ... -allowance

I've been carrying forward unused annual allowance to contribute more than £40k this year and last year, and get tax relief on all of it. Am I allowed to do this?

[ursaminortaur]

Thanks. That's helpful.

But now I'm confused about something else.

In the linked document it states:

"Unused tax relief can no longer be carried backwards or forwards to other tax years."

On the Pensions Advisory website it states:

Carry forward of unused allowance from the previous three years can allow larger contributions to receive tax relief.

https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org ... -allowance

I've been carrying forward unused annual allowance to contribute more than £40k this year and last year, and get tax relief on all of it. Am I allowed to do this?

I believe that is in reference to the preceding paragraph talking about the £3600 contribution limit which applies if you have no relevent earnings or relevent earnings of less than £3600.

Where a member’s relevant UK earnings chargeable to tax are less than £3,600, tax relief on the amount of any contribution over the level of their earnings up to the £3,600 limit can only be given if the contribution is paid to a pension scheme that operates the relief at source (RAS) system.

PTM043000 gives more information on the methods of granting tax relief.

Unused tax relief can no longer be carried backwards or forwards to other tax years.

Since you need to have used up the Annual limit of £40,000 before you can carry forward contributions from the previous three years and won't have done so if you only contributed £3,600 it means that you can't use carry forward. (The other possibility mentioned carry-back was abolished years ago).