UK Pension Tax Year-End Planning Checklist for Internationally Mobile Individuals
The UK tax year ends on 5 April. For pension planning purposes, this deadline carries serious consequences. Unused annual allowances cannot be rolled forward indefinitely — they expire on a rolling three-year basis. Carry-forward from 2022/23 expired on 5 April 2026. Carry-forward from 2023/24 expires on 5 April 2027. Miss the deadline and the allowance is gone permanently.
For internationally mobile individuals, the 5 April deadline is easy to overlook. Living in a different time zone, managing multiple financial relationships across jurisdictions, and working to a different annual reporting cycle all create risk. This checklist sets out what to review and act on before the UK tax year closes.
1. Confirm Your Residency Status for the Year
Before making any contribution decisions, establish your UK residency status for the tax year.
Why it matters:
- UK residents can contribute their full UK earnings (up to the annual allowance) and receive full tax relief
- Non-residents can contribute up to £3,600 gross (£2,880 net) and receive basic rate relief, regardless of UK earnings
- Non-residents within five years of leaving the UK may be able to contribute more if they had UK earnings in recent years
Action: review the UK Statutory Residence Test (SRT) for the current tax year. If your status is borderline, seek advice before the year-end — your contribution limit depends on it.
2. Check Your Annual Allowance Usage
The annual allowance for 2025/26 is £60,000 for most individuals. This covers:
- All personal contributions to money purchase (DC) pensions
- All employer contributions
- The pension input amount (PIA) for defined benefit schemes — the actuarially calculated increase in the value of your DB accrual during the year
Action: request a Pension Savings Statement from each pension provider where you expect to have made significant contributions. For DB scheme members, the scheme must issue a statement if the PIA exceeds the annual allowance. For personal pensions, calculate your own usage.
If you have not yet used your full annual allowance, a contribution before 5 April uses the current year's allowance. If your allowance has been fully used, additional contributions would attract an annual allowance charge — so hold off.
3. Check Your Carry-Forward Position
Carry-forward allows unused annual allowance from the three preceding tax years to be added to the current year's allowance. If you had unused allowance in those years, you may be able to contribute more than £60,000 this year.
The calculation:
- Identify the annual allowance for each of the three prior years (it was £60,000 in 2024/25, 2023/24; £40,000 in 2022/23)
- Subtract the pension input amounts actually made in each of those years
- Add any unused balances to the current year
Key condition: you must have been a member of a registered pension scheme in each year you are carrying forward from. Having a dormant SIPP (even with no contributions that year) typically satisfies this requirement.
Time-critical: carry-forward from 2022/23 expires permanently on 5 April 2026. Any unused allowance from that year that was not used in a prior carry-forward year is gone after that date.
4. Check Whether You Are Subject to the Tapered Annual Allowance
For 2025/26, the tapered annual allowance applies where:
- Threshold income exceeds £200,000 (broadly: total income before pension contributions), AND
- Adjusted income exceeds £260,000 (threshold income plus employer contributions plus personal contributions)
If both conditions are met, the annual allowance reduces by £1 for every £2 of adjusted income above £260,000, to a minimum of £10,000.
Action: calculate your threshold and adjusted income before making year-end contributions. If you are near the taper boundary, making a pension contribution may both use the allowance and reduce adjusted income (by increasing the pension input amount) — creating a feedback loop that requires careful modelling.
If you are clearly above the taper, a financial adviser can model the precise available allowance.
5. Confirm Your Payroll Deadline for Salary Sacrifice Contributions
If your pension contributions are made via salary sacrifice (deducted from gross salary before tax), they must go through the payroll in the final pay run before 5 April.
Salary sacrifice contributions are an employer-designated reduction in salary in exchange for a pension contribution. They count in the tax year in which the payroll is processed — not when HMRC receives them. If your employer's final payroll run is on 28 March, a sacrifice agreed on 3 April will not make it into the current tax year.
Action: contact your employer's payroll or HR department. Ask: what is the cut-off date for processing salary sacrifice instructions for the current tax year? Act well before that date, not after.
6. Confirm the Payment Deadline for SIPP Contributions
For personal SIPP contributions made outside payroll (by bank transfer, direct debit, or cheque), the payment must be received by the SIPP provider by 5 April to count in the current tax year.
Providers typically have their own deadlines — some require contributions to arrive by 4 April to allow processing time. Same-day payments are not always guaranteed by some providers' systems.
Action: if making a large year-end contribution, do not leave it to 5 April itself. Make the payment by 31 March at the latest, or confirm with your SIPP provider what their exact deadline and processing time is.
7. Verify the Higher-Rate Relief Claim for the Year
If you are a 40% or 45% taxpayer making contributions via relief at source, you are owed additional tax relief beyond the 20% your provider has already claimed. This additional relief must be claimed via self-assessment.
Action:
- Ensure you are registered for self-assessment
- Compile the total gross contributions for the year (net contributions plus the 20% basic rate relief already added by the provider)
- Enter this on your SA100 self-assessment return
- File the return by 31 January following the tax year-end (for online submission)
If you have missed previous years' claims, you can backdate for up to four years.
8. Check Whether the MPAA Applies to You
If you have previously taken flexible income from any pension (including UFPLS withdrawals, income drawdown, or cashing in a pension beyond the small pot rule), the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA) applies. The MPAA limits your annual allowance for money purchase contributions to £10,000 — not £60,000.
The MPAA applies from the day you first took flexible access, not from the start of the tax year. If you triggered flexible access in October 2025, the MPAA applies for the whole of 2025/26.
Action: confirm whether the MPAA applies to you. If it does, do not contribute more than £10,000 gross to money purchase pensions in the year, or you will face an annual allowance charge.
9. Review Any Defined Benefit Pension Input Amounts
If you are an active member of a defined benefit pension scheme — through a current or former employer — the scheme calculates a Pension Input Amount (PIA) representing the growth in your DB benefits during the year. This PIA counts against your annual allowance.
For senior professionals with high DB accrual (public sector, some corporate schemes), the PIA can be very large — sometimes exceeding the annual allowance by itself, before any personal SIPP contributions are made.
Action: request the PIA from your DB scheme for the current tax year before making any additional pension contributions. If the DB PIA leaves little or no headroom, avoid additional personal contributions that could trigger an annual allowance charge.
10. Expat-Specific Timing: Non-UK Residents
If you are a UK non-resident but contributing within the five-year window, or making the £3,600 gross exception contribution:
- The 5 April deadline applies equally to you — your contribution must be received by the UK SIPP provider before midnight on 5 April
- Time zone differences matter: midnight in the UK may fall during the working day in Singapore or in the early hours in New York
- Bank transfers from overseas can take 1-3 business days; international SWIFT transfers can occasionally take longer
Action: if making a year-end contribution from overseas, initiate the transfer no later than 1 April to ensure it arrives in the UK SIPP before the deadline. Confirm receipt with the SIPP provider.
Quick Reference: Key Dates and Figures (2025/26 Tax Year)
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Tax year end | 5 April 2026 |
| Annual allowance (most) | £60,000 |
| Annual allowance (MPAA) | £10,000 |
| Taper threshold income | £200,000 |
| Taper adjusted income | £260,000 |
| Minimum tapered allowance | £10,000 |
| Non-resident contribution (gross) | £3,600 |
| Carry-forward expiry (2022/23) | 5 April 2026 |
Compliance Note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute regulated financial advice. Annual allowance limits, tapering thresholds, and contribution rules are subject to change. Individual circumstances significantly affect the appropriate contribution strategy. Global Investments Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. You should seek professional advice before making pension contribution decisions around the tax year-end.
How Global Investments Can Help
Tax year-end pension planning is time-sensitive and the consequences of missing deadlines are permanent. Our advisers work with UK-based and internationally mobile clients to calculate annual allowance headroom, model carry-forward strategies, and ensure contributions are made efficiently before 5 April each year. Contact Global Investments to arrange a year-end planning review.
This guide is for general information only and does not constitute financial, legal or tax advice. Pension rules, tax rates and programme details change; verify current requirements with a qualified and FCA-regulated pensions adviser before acting. Pension transfers involving defined benefits over £30,000 require regulated advice.