Finds the thresholds sitting above and below your income, and shows what a pension contribution to each one is actually worth — including the 60% band and the child benefit charge.
On the figures so far
Contribute the whole £20,000. That is the strongest use of your spare cash on these figures.
Every figure came from you, and the gap is £10,000 — well outside rounding.
Refine it in 5 questions below.
The decision
Contribute the whole £20,000. That is the strongest use of your spare cash on these figures.
£10,000 better than do nothing, on the same figures.
Each of these has to be true. Where your answers settle it we have said so; where they cannot, the test is yours to check.
Your income takes you past a threshold where the marginal rate jumps. — met, on your answers
ITA 2007 ss. 10, 35
You have cash you can spare, or contributions you can redirect. — met, on your answers
Not a tax rule — the practical constraint
For Marriage Allowance: you are married or in a civil partnership, one of you earns under the personal allowance, and the other is a basic-rate taxpayer. — we cannot tell from your answers
ITA 2007 s. 55B
For Gift Aid: you have paid at least as much tax as the charity will reclaim. — we cannot tell from your answers
ITA 2007 s. 424
This is information, not tax or financial advice. It shows how the rules apply to the figures you entered — it does not know the rest of your circumstances. Worth checking with an accountant before you act.
Rates as at 6 April 2026 — the 2026/27 tax year.
The figures above are only as good as what sits behind them. These are the records HMRC would ask for.
| When | What | If you miss it |
|---|---|---|
| 5 April | Make any pension contribution or Gift Aid donation intended to reduce this year's income. | It reduces next year instead. Gift Aid can be carried back one year, but only by electing on a return filed by 31 January. |
| 31 January after the tax year | File the return claiming higher-rate relief and any Gift Aid carry-back election. | The carry-back election cannot be made late — it must be on a return filed by the deadline, and an amendment afterwards does not count. |
| 5 April, four years after | Claim relief for an earlier year. | Out of time. Four years is the general assessment window for overpaid tax. |
| When your pay changes | Check your tax code. | A wrong code collects the wrong amount all year; the correction arrives as a P800 long afterwards, or not at all. |
£50,270 takes you to 40%. £100,000 starts the personal allowance taper, an effective 60% until £125,140. £60,000 starts the High Income Child Benefit Charge. Each is a different amount of money for the same contribution.
The value is the contribution multiplied by the rate you escape, not by your headline rate. Crossing back under £100,000 is worth 60p in the pound; crossing back under £50,270 is worth 40p.
A pension contribution reduces adjusted net income. So does Gift Aid. Salary sacrifice does both and saves National Insurance as well. An ISA does not reduce your income at all — it shelters the return, which is a different benefit.
The tax year in which it is paid is what counts. A contribution on 6 April is a year later than one on 5 April in every way that matters.
Higher-rate pension relief under relief at source, and all Gift Aid relief above the basic rate, have to be claimed — on the return, or by writing to HMRC.
Three situations, worked through. They use the same rules as the tool above, so you can check the arithmetic against a case near your own.
Straightforward higher-rate relief. Every pound is relieved at 40% because the whole contribution sits above the threshold.
The best rate of relief in the system. £8,000 into the pension costs £3,200 and clears the taper completely — the contribution is worth half as much again as the same contribution at £55,000.
The charge is assessed on adjusted net income, so the contribution removes it as well as the income tax. Combined, the effective relief on that £4,000 is well above 40%.
Every figure above comes from one of these. Where we have interpreted rather than calculated, the tool says so.
Higher rate applies to income above £50,270; additional rate above £125,140.
The personal allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 of adjusted net income above £100,000.
Pension contributions and Gift Aid donations both reduce adjusted net income.
The High Income Child Benefit Charge applies from £60,000 of adjusted net income and removes the benefit entirely by £80,000.
Scotland sets its own rates and bands for non-savings income; the personal allowance and the taper are UK-wide.
Marriage Allowance transfers 10% of the personal allowance and is withdrawn if the recipient pays above the basic rate.
Because it is not a rate — it is the combined effect of paying 40% on a pound of income while also losing 50p of personal allowance, which is then taxed at 40%. HMRC publishes the two rules separately and the 60% band is what they produce together between £100,000 and £125,140.
No. An ISA shelters the growth and income inside it, but the money going in is money you have already been taxed on. Nothing about an ISA changes your adjusted net income, so it cannot clear a threshold.
That is usually when it is most worth it — a small contribution clears the whole excess, and every pound of it is relieved at the higher rate. The question is whether the money is better in a pension than in your hand, not whether the relief is available.
Yes, for four tax years. The contribution itself cannot be backdated, but relief on a contribution you already made can be claimed late. The Gift Aid carry-back election is the exception and cannot be made after the filing deadline.
Bonuses and irregular self-employed profit make the thresholds hard to see coming. The practical approach is to look at the position in February or March, once most of the year is known, rather than committing in April to a figure you are guessing.
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