← Calculators/Tax year 2026/27·Last reviewed
Money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) calculator
The £10,000 cap on money-purchase saving once a pot is flexibly accessed — and the default-versus-alternative chargeable-amount test that decides the charge.
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 £10,000 cap on DC saving
Once a member flexibly accesses a money-purchase pot — taking an UFPLS, or income from flexi-access drawdown — the money purchase annual allowance applies. From that point money-purchase contributions are capped at £10,000 a year (it was £4,000 before 2023/24). Defined-benefit accrual is unaffected, and the cap persists once triggered. Taking only a tax-free lump sum does not trigger it.
PTM056500 · FA 2004 ss.227B–227F
Two chargeable amounts — the greater applies
HMRC computes the charge two ways and takes the larger. The default chargeable amount tests total input (DC + DB) against the full annual allowance plus carry-forward, exactly as for any member. The alternative chargeable amount tests the DC input over the £10,000 cap, plus any DB input over the alternative annual allowance — the standard allowance minus the MPAA, so £50,000. The alternative amount exists to catch DC saving over the cap even when total input would otherwise clear the allowance. The tool runs the same orchestrator the authed suite uses, so both legs are priced, not approximated.
PTM056510 (default / alternative chargeable amount) · ADR-026
Carry-forward survives, but cannot lift the cap
Carry-forward is never set against the MPAA itself. It survives an MPAA year and stays available for the default test and the DB-side alternative allowance — but the DC input over £10,000 is chargeable regardless of how much unused allowance exists. There is no carrying forward of an unused MPAA either: an unused £10,000 does not roll into next year.
PTM055100 · ADR-038
— Worked example
- Money purchase annual allowance — the DC cap
- £10,000
- Applicable annual allowance (no taper at this income)
- £60,000
- Chargeable amount (greater of the default / alternative test)
- £5,000
- Estimated annual allowance charge (marginal rate)
- £2,000
Computed live by the same orchestrator the tool above runs. The £15,000 of DC input is capped to the £10,000 MPAA; the £5,000 over the cap is the alternative chargeable amount — caught even though total input (£35,000) sits under the £60,000 allowance. The default test alone returns nothing here.
— Related
- Pension annual allowance calculator — standard AA, taper and carry-forward in one screen
- Tapered annual allowance calculator — the high-earner taper
- The MPAA explained — 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
With a free account, the same engine runs inside the workbench:
- save the calc to a client file, with the audit trail and sign-off workflow
- export the branded compliance annex PDF — full working, legislative references, config version
- multi-gain, multi-scheme and prior-year history the single-screen tools don't take
- upload statements and certificates — the figures are extracted for your review
Free plan: 3 calcs / month · no card required · cancel any time. Unlimited on Pro and Firm.
For planning and illustration purposes only · Verify all inputs against source documents · This tool does not constitute financial or tax advice.