Does my pension contribution qualify for tax relief?

Whether your pension contribution qualifies for tax relief depends on the type of contribution and how it’s paid.

Eligible personal contributions and employee contributions made through Relief at Source can receive tax relief.

You pay 80% of the total contribution, and we claim the remaining 20% from HMRC. We then add this to your Penfold pension.

For example, if you pay £80, HMRC adds £20, bringing your total pension contribution to £100.

This is sometimes described as a 25% top-up on the amount you pay.

Tax top-ups usually take around 6 to 11 weeks from the date of your contribution to reach your account.

For more information, see How long does it take to receive tax top-ups?

If you pay higher or additional-rate tax, you may be able to claim extra tax relief from HMRC.

This can apply to eligible personal or employee contributions where basic-rate tax relief has already been added through Relief at Source.

Penfold claims basic-rate tax relief for you. You’ll generally need to claim any additional tax relief you’re entitled to directly from HMRC.

Find out more in How to claim higher rate tax relief on pension contributions.

Penfold doesn’t add a separate basic-rate tax top-up to:

Employer contributions and salary sacrifice contributions are treated differently for tax purposes. This means they don’t receive a separate Relief at Source top-up from Penfold.

Pension transfers also don’t receive a tax top-up. A transfer moves money you’ve already saved in another pension rather than adding a new contribution.