← Calculators/Tax year 2026/27·Last reviewed
Tapered annual allowance calculator
The two income tests and the £1-for-£2 reduction, against the right year's thresholds — they've moved twice.
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.
Two income tests, one year.
Net income MINUS member pension contributions. At or below the threshold → no taper, whatever the adjusted income.
Net income PLUS all pension input including employer contributions.
The thresholds and the floor have both moved — 2023/24 raised the floor from £4k to £10k.
Unsure how to build the two income figures from salary, bonus and employer contributions? The full calculator derives them field by field.
— How it's calculated
Two tests, both must bite
The taper only applies when BOTH income tests are failed: threshold income (net income minus member pension contributions) above its gate, AND adjusted income (net income plus all pension input, including employer contributions) above the taper line. Clear either test and the standard allowance stands — which is why salary sacrifice arrangements need the anti-avoidance check rather than a quick glance.
PTM057100 · FA 2004 s.228ZA
The reduction and the floor
Above both lines, the allowance reduces by £1 for every £2 of adjusted income over the taper threshold, down to a floor. The thresholds and the floor are year-specific: 2020/21 moved both income tests up by £90,000, and 2023/24 raised the floor from £4,000 to £10,000. Using last year's numbers is the classic spreadsheet error — every figure here reads from the selected year's versioned config.
PTM057100 (rates and thresholds by year)
Tapered years still carry forward
A tapered year generates carry-forward from its TAPERED allowance — a member tapered to the floor who made no contributions carries the floor amount forward, not the standard allowance. Prior-year taper is the most common source of overstated carry-forward.
PTM055100 (carry forward from tapered years)
— Worked example
- Standard annual allowance
- £60,000
- Tapered allowance (£1 off per £2 over the line)
- £40,000
- Applied allowance (floored)
- £40,000
Computed live by the same engine the tool above runs. At £300,000 of adjusted income the £1-for-£2 reduction runs all the way to the floor — £10,000 since 2023/24 (it was £4,000 before; the year selector matters).
— Related
- The taper in depth — adjusted vs threshold income, with the worked example
- Taper and carry forward together: the order of operations
- Annual allowance calculator — taper, MPAA and carry-forward together
- Carry forward calculator — including tapered prior years
- 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.