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LSDBA calculator — death benefit and serious ill-health lump sums
The death-benefit-side allowance: what an SIH or tax-free death benefit consumes, what remains, and the marginal-rate excess.
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— In short
The Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance (LSDBA) caps the total tax-free lump sums payable across your lifetime and on death — £1,073,100 as standard. Pension commencement lump sums consume both the LSA and the LSDBA; serious ill-health lump sums and tax-free death benefits before age 75 consume the LSDBA only. Amounts above it are taxed on the recipient at their marginal rate.
ParaplanAI calculator illustration
LSDBA
Tax year 2026/27 · Last reviewed 20 Jul 2026
The event, and what's already used.
Post-75 SIH and death benefits are taxable income, not allowance-tested — use the full workflow.
This quick tool cannot verify these legal facts. If any answer is no or unknown, use the full workflow or obtain a specialist calculation.
The lump sum being paid at this event.
From post-April-2024 events. Pre-2024 → TTFAC calculator first.
PCLS events consume both allowances; SIH/death-benefit consume LSDBA only.
Before personal allowance. Savings and dividends are assumed nil in this quick estimate.
Scottish pension income uses the Scottish non-savings bands.
Enhanced / Primary Protection need member-specific factors — use the full workflow.
The LSDBA framework applies from 2024/25.
For planning and illustration purposes only. Verify all inputs against source documents. This tool does not constitute financial or tax advice.
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— How it's calculated
The Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance
The LSDBA caps the total tax-free lump sums payable across the member's lifetime AND on death — £1,073,100 as standard. Every PCLS consumes both the LSA and the LSDBA; serious ill-health lump sums and tax-free death benefits (death before 75) consume the LSDBA only. Amounts above the remaining allowance are taxed on the recipient at their marginal rate.
PTM172000 · FA 2024 Sch 9
Pre-75 vs post-75
The allowance test applies to serious ill-health lump sums and death benefits only where the event is before age 75. Post-75, those payments are simply taxable income in the recipient's hands — no allowance is consumed and no excess arises. PCLS and UFPLS keep consuming allowance after 75.
PTM173000 (RBCEs) · PTM063400 (SIHLS)
Who is taxed on the excess — and the 45% non-qualifying-person charge
An excess over the remaining LSDBA is taxed as the recipient'spension income at the recipient's own marginal rate, not the deceased member's — so the beneficiary's other income for the year is what prices it, and the tool takes that figure as an input. Two cases sit outside that. Where a taxable lump sum death benefit is paid to a non-qualifying person — broadly anyone not receiving it as an individual, such as a trust, a company or the estate's personal representatives — the scheme administrator pays a flat 45% special lump sum death benefit charge instead. And a lump sum death benefit after a pre-75 death is tax-free only if paid or designated within two years of the scheme administrator knowing of the death; paid later it becomes taxable even though death was before 75.
ITEPA 2003 s.637S (recipient’s marginal rate) · ITEPA 2003 s.206 (special lump sum death benefit charge) · PTM073010
Protection raises the ceiling
Fixed protection preserves a former lifetime-allowance ceiling as a higher LSDBA: FP2012 £1,800,000, FP2014 £1,500,000, FP2016 £1,250,000 — fixed nominal amounts that do not index. Individual Protection 2014 and 2016 set the LSDBA to the member's protected LTA (up to £1.5m for IP2014, £1.25m for IP2016). Primary Protection gives £1,800,000 uplifted by the certificate's enhancement factor. Enhanced Protection gives an LSDBA equal to the value of the member's uncrystallised rights on 5 April 2024 (FA 2024 Sch 9 para 126(1)(c)) — a finite, member-specific figure, not an uncapped allowance. The tool above covers the fixed and individual regimes; Enhanced and Primary Protection carry certificate-specific figures and route to the full workflow.
PTM176100 (protections overview) · PTM176410 (fixed protection) · PTM176510 (individual protection) · PTM174700 (FP2012/FP2014 ceilings) · FA 2024 Sch 9 paras 125–126
— How to calculate the remaining lump sum and death benefit allowance
Step 1
Start from the standard LSDBA
Take the standard Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance of £1,073,100, or the higher amount if a protection applies.
Step 2
Deduct allowance already used
Subtract the LSDBA used at earlier events — including pension commencement lump sums, which consume the LSDBA as well as the LSA.
Step 3
Apply the current event
Reduce the remaining allowance by the lump sum at this event — a PCLS, a serious ill-health lump sum, or a tax-free death benefit before age 75 — capped at the allowance remaining.
Step 4
Read the remaining allowance
What is left is the lump sum and death benefit allowance still available.
Step 5
Tax any excess
Any amount above the remaining allowance is taxed on the recipient at their marginal rate.
— Worked example
- Applicable LSDBA
- £1,073,100.00
- Consumed by this event (capped at remaining)
- £1,073,100.00
- Remaining
- £0.00
- Excess — taxed on the beneficiary at marginal rate
- £126,900.00
- Estimated tax on the excess (beneficiary income £30,000)
- £56,464.50
Computed live by the same engine the tool above runs. The excess is taxed as the beneficiary's income at their marginal rate — this estimate prices it on the beneficiary's own income, not the deceased's. The 55% and 25% lifetime allowance charges were removed a year before the allowance itself: they went on 6 April 2023 (F(No.2)A 2023), and the Lifetime Allowance was abolished on 6 April 2024 when the LSDBA replaced it.
— Frequently asked questions
What is the Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance?
The LSDBA caps the total tax-free lump sums payable across a member’s lifetime and on death — £1,073,100 as standard. It has applied since the Lifetime Allowance was abolished on 6 April 2024.
What consumes the LSDBA?
Every pension commencement lump sum consumes both the LSA and the LSDBA. Serious ill-health lump sums and tax-free death benefits paid before age 75 consume the LSDBA only.
How are death benefits taxed after age 75?
Death benefits paid after age 75 are simply taxable income in the recipient’s hands — no allowance is consumed and no LSDBA excess arises. The allowance test applies to serious ill-health and death-benefit lump sums only where the event is before 75.
How is an LSDBA excess taxed?
The amount above the remaining allowance is taxed as the recipient’s pension income at the recipient’s own marginal rate, not the deceased member’s (ITEPA 2003 s.637S). Where a taxable lump sum death benefit is paid to a non-qualifying person — a trust, a company or personal representatives — the scheme administrator pays a flat 45% special lump sum death benefit charge instead. The old 55% and 25% lifetime allowance charges had already gone from 6 April 2023 (F(No.2)A 2023), a year before the allowance itself was abolished on 6 April 2024.
Does protection raise the LSDBA?
Yes. Fixed protection preserves a former lifetime-allowance ceiling as a higher LSDBA — FP2012 £1,800,000, FP2014 £1,500,000, FP2016 £1,250,000 — as fixed nominal amounts with no indexation. Individual Protection 2014 and 2016 set it to the member’s protected Lifetime Allowance (up to £1.5m and £1.25m respectively). Primary Protection gives £1,800,000 uplifted by the certificate’s enhancement factor, and Enhanced Protection sets it to the value of the member’s uncrystallised rights on 5 April 2024 (FA 2024 Sch 9 para 126(1)(c)) — a finite, member-specific figure.
— Related
- Lump sum allowances: the complete guide
- The LSDBA: the £1,073,100 ceiling that bites on death before 75
- LSA calculator — the separate lump sum allowance for tax-free cash taken in life
- TTFAC calculator — pre-2024 crystallisations and the transitional deduction
- Full LSDBA workflow — post-75 events, UFPLS, beneficiary planning
- How every figure is verified against the HMRC corpus
— When you're ready
Put this calculation in the client file.
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