Annual allowance and carry forward
Pension carry forward calculator: unused allowance from the last three years
Enter your total pension savings for this tax year and each of the three before. You get the allowance available now, what is used from each year and what you can still carry into 2027/28.
Independent site, not a government service. Relief is claimed through your pension provider, your payroll or HMRC (Self Assessment or the GOV.UK claim service).
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
You can still pay in this year
£85,000
Allowance available in 2026/27, carry forward included: £175,000.
| 2026/27 allowance used first | £60,000 |
| Unused 2023/24 (used £30,000) | £50,000 |
| Unused 2024/25 (used £0) | £35,000 |
| Unused 2025/26 (used £0) | £30,000 |
| Left to carry into 2027/28 | £65,000 |
This year’s allowance is used first, then the earliest year. 2023/24 drops out on 6 April 2027.
Each year counts only if you were in a UK registered pension scheme then, even with nothing paid in.
Carry forward lets you add the unused annual allowance of the three previous tax years to this year's £60,000, under section 228A of the Finance Act 2004. Two rules decide the result. First, this year's allowance is always used up before anything is carried, and then the earliest year goes first, so 2023/24 is used before 2024/25 and 2025/26. Second, a year only counts if you were a member of a UK registered pension scheme at some point in it, even with nothing paid in. Someone who saved £10,000, £25,000 and £30,000 in those three years, each with a £60,000 allowance, has £175,000 available in 2026/27. Paying in £90,000 uses £30,000 of the 2023/24 space and leaves £65,000 to carry into 2027/28, once 2023/24 drops out. Carry forward raises the allowance, not the limit on relief: personal contributions still only get tax relief up to your earnings for the year.
Figures checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How the sums are done
Allowances year by year
The calculator uses the standard allowance of each year unless you enter a lower one. HMRC lists them on its pension schemes rates page, from which the table below is taken. The allowance rose from £40,000 to £60,000 on 6 April 2023, and the taper thresholds moved twice.
| Tax year | Annual allowance | Threshold income | Adjusted income | Tapered floor | MPAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016/17 | £40,000 | £110,000 | £150,000 | £10,000 | not listed |
| 2017/18 | £40,000 | £110,000 | £150,000 | £10,000 | not listed |
| 2018/19 | £40,000 | £110,000 | £150,000 | £10,000 | not listed |
| 2019/20 | £40,000 | £110,000 | £150,000 | £10,000 | £4,000 |
| 2020/21 | £40,000 | £200,000 | £240,000 | £4,000 | £4,000 |
| 2021/22 | £40,000 | £200,000 | £240,000 | £4,000 | £4,000 |
| 2022/23 | £40,000 | £200,000 | £240,000 | £4,000 | £4,000 |
| 2023/24 | £60,000 | £200,000 | £260,000 | £10,000 | £10,000 |
| 2024/25 | £60,000 | £200,000 | £260,000 | £10,000 | £10,000 |
| 2025/26 | £60,000 | £200,000 | £260,000 | £10,000 | £10,000 |
| 2026/27 | £60,000 | £200,000 | £260,000 | £10,000 | £10,000 |
A year without scheme membership
A self-employed person who joined a SIPP in May 2024 wants to pay £150,000 in 2026/27. The tax year 2023/24 gives nothing, because they were not a member then. The allowance available is £180,000: this year's £60,000 plus the unused £60,000 of 2024/25 and 2025/26. With profits of £150,000 the full payment would also get relief, because relief follows earnings (Finance Act 2004, section 190).
Using the result
Paying a large sum through carry forward is common in the year of a bonus, a business sale or a final salary jump. The result tells you how much you can save without an annual allowance charge; it does not tell you how much relief you get, which depends on the tax you paid. Feed the gross figure into the SIPP calculator to see the top-up and the claim, or into the annual allowance calculator if your income is high enough for the taper. If you have already taken flexible income from a pension, carry forward cannot lift the £10,000 limit on money purchase savings, as the MPAA guide explains. HMRC's own carry forward steps ask you to check each year's pension savings statement.
A last practical point: the scheme does not check carry forward for you. Providers accept a contribution of any size within your earnings, and it is your Self Assessment return that shows whether an annual allowance charge is due. Keep the pension savings statements of the three earlier years, or ask each scheme for the pension input amounts, before making the payment.
The calculator also shows what is left to carry into 2027/28: the unused part of 2024/25 and 2025/26 after this year's payment, plus whatever is left of the 2026/27 allowance itself. That figure is the starting point for next year's planning.