← Calculators/Tax year 2026/27·Last reviewed
Pension annual allowance calculator
Standard allowance, the high-earner taper, MPAA and carry-forward in one screen — with the chargeable excess shown, not implied.
Free, no sign-up. Runs the same engine and the same versioned tax-year config the signed-in suite uses — nothing leaves your browser. How we verify the numbers.
This year, income, and the three prior years.
Versioned config per year — AA, taper threshold and MPAA all move.
Flexible access (e.g. UFPLS, flexi-access income) triggers the MPAA.
All money-purchase inputs: member + employer + tax relief.
From the DB PIA calculation (16× method) — not contributions paid.
Caps tax-relievable member contributions at 100% of earnings.
Net income minus member pension contributions. Below the threshold → no taper.
Net income plus all pension input (incl. employer). Drives the £1-for-£2 taper.
Unused allowance in the three prior years
Oldest year — consumed first.
Carry-forward needs registered-scheme membership in the year the allowance arose, and prior-year unused AA reflects any taper in THAT year — the full calculator derives both from the contribution history.
— How it's calculated
The annual allowance test
Total pension input for the year — every money-purchase contribution (member, employer and tax relief) plus any defined-benefit input amount — is tested against the applicable annual allowance plus available carry-forward. Input above that total is the chargeable amount, taxed at the member's marginal rate through the annual allowance charge.
PTM051100 (annual allowance) · FA 2004 s.227–229
Taper and MPAA both bite here
High earners lose allowance £1 for every £2 of adjusted income over the taper line — but only when threshold income also exceeds its gate. Members who have flexibly accessed a money-purchase pot face the MPAA on the DC side instead: a hard cap with no carry-forward against it, while the DB side keeps the alternative allowance. The tool runs the same orchestrator the authed suite uses, so both interactions are priced, not approximated.
PTM057100 (taper) · PTM056500 (MPAA)
The 100% earnings rule is separate
Tax relief on member contributions is capped at 100% of relevant UK earnings — a different test from the annual allowance, applied to a different base. A member can breach one without the other; the tool tests both.
PTM044100 (members' contributions: tax relief)
— Worked example
- Applicable annual allowance (no taper at this income)
- £60,000
- Carry-forward available
- £45,000
- Total allowance
- £105,000
- Pension input tested
- £70,000
- Chargeable excess
- £0
Computed live by the same engine the tool above runs. The £10,000 over the in-year allowance is absorbed by carry-forward, consumed from the oldest year first — no charge arises.
— Related
- Carry forward calculator — the three-prior-year working in detail
- Tapered annual allowance calculator — the two income tests
- The MPAA — what triggers it and what it does to carry-forward
- Full pension calculator — contribution history, extraction, the compliance PDF
- How every figure is verified against the HMRC corpus
— When you're ready
Save the calc to a client and get the branded compliance PDF — full working, legislative references, config version, sign-off trail.
3 free calcs / month · no card required · cancel any time.
For planning and illustration purposes only · Verify all inputs against source documents · This tool does not constitute financial or tax advice.