How pension carry forward works
The pension Annual Allowance limits how much can be paid into your pensions each tax year (from you, your employer, and anyone else) while still getting tax relief, currently £60,000. Carry forward lets you use any unused allowance from the previous 3 tax years on top of this year's own allowance, which is useful if you want to make a large one-off contribution — for example, after a bonus, an inheritance, or catching up after a period of lower contributions.
You need to have been a member of a registered pension scheme in each year you want to carry forward from, even if you didn't actually contribute anything that year. If you weren't a scheme member at all in a given year, you can't carry forward from it.
Carry forward and the tapered Annual Allowance
If your adjusted income in a particular year was high enough to trigger the taper (above £260,000), it's your actual, reduced allowance for that year that carries forward, not the full standard amount — down to a floor of £10,000. This calculator applies the taper to each of the 4 years automatically, based on the adjusted income you enter for each one.
What happens if you go over your allowance
Contributing more than your total available allowance (this year's allowance plus carry forward) can trigger an Annual Allowance Charge on the excess. This claws back the tax relief you received, by adding the excess to your taxable income for the year and taxing it at your marginal rate, using the same method as this site's Salary Increase Calculator. This calculator estimates that charge if your entered contribution exceeds your available allowance.
Example carry forward calculations
These worked examples come straight from the calculator above, so the figures match exactly what you'd see entering the same numbers yourself.
Simple case, no taper
£40,000 contribution this year
- Total available
- £231,000
- Headroom
- £191,000
No scheme membership 2 years ago
£60,000 contribution this year
- Total available
- £235,000
- Headroom
- £175,000
Tapered allowance in prior years
£50,000 contribution this year
- Total available
- £137,500
- Headroom
- £87,500
Contribution exceeds allowance
£250,000 contribution this year
- Total available
- £210,000
- Excess
- £40,000
Frequently asked questions
What is pension carry forward?
Carry forward lets you use unused Annual Allowance from the previous 3 tax years, on top of this year's own allowance, to make a larger pension contribution without triggering an Annual Allowance Charge. You need to have been a member of a registered pension scheme in each year you want to carry forward from, even if you didn't contribute anything that year.
How much can I carry forward?
Up to the unused portion of each of the previous 3 tax years' Annual Allowance, added together. If you didn't contribute at all in a year, the whole of that year's allowance (currently £60,000, or less if it was tapered) is available to carry forward. Any unused allowance older than 3 years is lost and can no longer be used.
Does carry forward use my full allowance or my tapered allowance?
Your tapered allowance, if it applied. If your adjusted income in a particular year was high enough to reduce your Annual Allowance below the standard amount, it's that lower, tapered figure you carry forward, not the full standard allowance. This calculator applies the taper automatically based on the adjusted income you enter for each year.
In what order is carry forward used?
You use this year's own allowance first, then unused allowance from the oldest of the 3 carried-forward years, working forward. This matters because it determines which year's unused allowance would be 'lost' first if a future contribution runs out again, though this calculator just shows the total available rather than a specific ordering.
What happens if I go over my available allowance?
Any contribution above your total available allowance (this year's allowance plus carry forward) can trigger an Annual Allowance Charge. This effectively claws back the tax relief you received on the excess, by adding it to your taxable income for the year and taxing it at your marginal rate(s), which can span more than one tax band.
Does the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA) affect carry forward?
Yes, and this calculator doesn't model it. If you've flexibly accessed taxable income from a defined contribution pension (for example, taking a UFPLS withdrawal or income from flexi-access drawdown), your allowance for further money purchase contributions is generally capped at the £10,000 MPAA, and carry forward can't be used to increase money purchase contributions above it. If you've triggered the MPAA, get advice on how it affects your specific situation rather than relying on this calculator.
Do I need to have earned the money to carry forward pension contributions?
For personal (non-employer) contributions with tax relief, you generally still need relevant UK earnings at least equal to your total personal contributions in the tax year you actually make them, even if you're using carried-forward allowance from previous years. Carry forward increases how much you can contribute within the Annual Allowance rules; it doesn't remove the separate earnings test for personal contribution tax relief.
Methodology and assumptions
This pension carry forward calculator assumes:
- You were a member of a registered pension scheme in all 4 years shown. If you weren't a member in one of the 3 prior years, you can't actually carry forward from it, even though this calculator will still show an "unused" figure for it.
- The standard Annual Allowance (£60,000), the taper start (£260,000 adjusted income) and the taper floor (£10,000) have applied unchanged since 6 April 2023, so the same figures are used for 2023/24, 2024/25, 2025/26 and 2026/27 alike.
- This doesn't model the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA), which applies differently once triggered by flexibly accessing a defined contribution pension.
- This year's own allowance is always used before carry forward, and the total figure shown doesn't track which specific year's carried-forward allowance would be used first.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest penny.
To check the tax on taking money out of a pension instead, see the Pension Withdrawal Tax Calculator.
Sources
Annual Allowance figures for 2026/27 are taken directly from:
- Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances (GOV.UK)
- Income Tax in Scotland (GOV.UK)
- Scottish Income Tax: rates and bands 2026 to 2027 (gov.scot)
- Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 (GOV.UK)
- National Insurance rates and categories (GOV.UK)
- Salary sacrifice and the effects on PAYE (GOV.UK)
- Tax on your private pension contributions: Annual Allowance (GOV.UK)
- Tapered annual allowance explained 2026/27 (MoneyHelper)
- Money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) (MoneyHelper)
- National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates (GOV.UK)
- Maximum weekly working hours (GOV.UK)
- Personal Allowances: adjusted net income (GOV.UK)
- Child Benefit tax charge (GOV.UK)
- Child Benefit rates (GOV.UK)
- Company car benefit: the appropriate percentage, 480 Appendix 2 (GOV.UK)
Further guidance referenced on this page:
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