> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.taxtrends.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How Much Can I Put into My Pension in 2026/27? Annual Allowance Calculator - URL: https://www.taxtrends.co.uk/gb/how-much-can-i-put-into-my-pension-before-5-april-2025-2/ - Published: 2025-03-26T13:41:06.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-16T16:27:18.000Z - Description: Calculate your 2026/27 pension annual allowance, taper, MPAA and carry forward, including the relevant-earnings limit for personal contributions. - Author: Michael Sidon - Tags: Pensions, Personal Tax How much you can put into a pension in 2026/27 is not determined by a single £60,000 limit. The answer can be affected by the tapered annual allowance, the Money Purchase Annual Allowance, carry forward from the previous three tax years and, for personal contributions, the amount of your relevant UK earnings. **At a glance** The standard annual allowance is £60,000 for 2026/27\. Tapering can reduce it to as little as £10,000 where threshold income exceeds £200,000 and adjusted income exceeds £260,000\. The MPAA is £10,000 if you have flexibly accessed defined-contribution pension benefits, and unused annual allowance can generally be carried forward from the previous three tax years if the conditions are met. ## The 2026/27 annual allowance | 2026/27 rule | Amount | | ------------------------------------- | -------- | | Standard annual allowance | £60,000 | | Threshold income limit for taper test | £200,000 | | Adjusted income limit | £260,000 | | Minimum tapered annual allowance | £10,000 | | Money Purchase Annual Allowance | £10,000 | The standard pension annual allowance for 2026/27 is **£60,000**. It measures pension input, not simply the cash you personally pay into a pension. Employer contributions count towards the annual allowance, and defined-benefit schemes measure pension growth using a statutory formula rather than the amount contributed by you or your employer. The annual allowance is a tax-charge limit rather than an absolute prohibition on contributions. Pension saving above the available allowance can create an annual allowance charge, which broadly removes the tax advantage on the excess. The practical objective is therefore to understand how much allowance is available before making a large contribution. ## Tapered annual allowance For 2026/27, tapering can apply if **threshold income exceeds £200,000** and **adjusted income exceeds £260,000**. Where both conditions are met, the annual allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 of adjusted income above £260,000, subject to a minimum annual allowance of **£10,000**. For example, adjusted income of £300,000 gives a £20,000 reduction from the standard £60,000 allowance, leaving £40,000, assuming the threshold-income test is also met. Once adjusted income reaches £360,000, the taper reaches the £10,000 minimum. **Do not use adjusted income on its own** The taper only applies if the threshold-income condition is also satisfied. Both calculations contain pension-related adjustments, so high earners should calculate the two statutory income measures rather than assume that salary or taxable income is the relevant figure. ## Money Purchase Annual Allowance If you have flexibly accessed defined-contribution pension benefits, the Money Purchase Annual Allowance may apply. The MPAA is **£10,000 for 2026/27** and restricts the amount of further money-purchase pension saving that can be made without an annual allowance charge. Unused annual allowance from earlier years cannot be carried forward to increase the MPAA. People who have both money-purchase savings and defined-benefit accrual can also have an alternative annual allowance calculation, so the simple calculator below does not attempt to model mixed DB/DC cases after an MPAA trigger. ## Carry forward If you were a member of a registered pension scheme in the relevant earlier year, unused annual allowance can generally be carried forward for up to three tax years. For a 2026/27 contribution, the carry-forward years are **2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26**. The standard annual allowance was £60,000 in each of those years, although your actual available allowance may have been lower because of tapering, the MPAA or pension input already used. Carry forward is normally used oldest year first after the current year's annual allowance has been used. The safest way to calculate it is to establish the actual unused allowance for each prior year rather than simply assuming £60,000 was available. ## Personal contributions and relevant UK earnings The annual allowance and the tax-relief limit are separate tests. For personal contributions, tax relief is generally limited to the higher of **100% of relevant UK earnings** or **£3,600 gross** for an eligible UK resident under age 75\. Dividend income, rental income and most investment income are not relevant UK earnings for this purpose. Employer pension contributions are not capped by the employee's relevant earnings in the same way, but they still count towards the annual allowance and must satisfy the normal rules for employer tax deductibility. This distinction is particularly important for owner-managed companies where the director takes a small salary but the company makes a larger pension contribution. ## 2026/27 Pension Annual Allowance Calculator This calculator estimates the annual-allowance capacity available for a money-purchase contribution in 2026/27\. Enter your threshold income and adjusted income, the pension input already used this tax year and the actual unused annual allowance from each of the previous three years. If you are making a personal contribution, also enter your relevant UK earnings so the separate tax-relief ceiling can be shown. The tool does not calculate defined-benefit pension input, scheme-specific pension input periods, the alternative annual allowance after an MPAA trigger or the exact threshold/adjusted-income adjustments. Those situations require a fuller pension calculation. ### Pension Annual Allowance — 2026/27 Estimate your current allowance, carry-forward capacity and the separate earnings cap for personal contributions. Threshold income (£) Adjusted income (£) Pension input already used in 2026/27 (£) Has the MPAA been triggered?NoYes — money-purchase saving Unused allowance from 2023/24 (£) Unused allowance from 2024/25 (£) Unused allowance from 2025/26 (£) Contribution routePersonal contributionEmployer contribution Relevant UK earnings (£, personal contributions) Gross personal contributions already made in 2026/27 (£) Calculate This is a planning tool, not a pension-input statement. Prior-year carry forward assumes you were a member of a registered pension scheme and that the unused amounts entered are correct. ## Worked examples **Example: tapered allowance** Threshold income is £230,000 and adjusted income is £320,000\. The £60,000 standard allowance is reduced by £30,000 because adjusted income is £60,000 above the £260,000 limit, leaving a current-year allowance of £30,000 before carry forward. If £20,000 of unused allowance is available from earlier years, total annual-allowance capacity could be £50,000, subject to the separate earnings limit for personal contributions. **Example: company contribution for a low-salary director** A director takes a £12,570 salary but the company wants to contribute £40,000 to their pension. The £12,570 salary does not itself cap an employer contribution at £12,570\. The annual allowance, employer deductibility rules and the individual's wider pension input still need to be checked, but the personal relevant-earnings ceiling does not apply to the employer contribution in the same way. ## Common mistakes #### Assuming everyone has a £60,000 contribution limit The £60,000 figure is the standard annual allowance, but tapering or the MPAA can reduce it. Personal tax relief can also be capped by relevant UK earnings even where annual-allowance capacity is higher. #### Treating carry forward as automatic £60,000 per year Carry forward is based on the unused allowance actually available in each earlier year, after allowing for tapering and pension input already made. Scheme membership in the relevant earlier year is also required. #### Using carry forward to increase the MPAA Carry forward does not increase the £10,000 Money Purchase Annual Allowance. If the MPAA has been triggered and there is also defined-benefit accrual, the alternative annual allowance rules may need to be calculated separately. ## Conclusion The 2026/27 pension contribution calculation starts with the £60,000 standard annual allowance but can diverge quickly for high earners, people who have flexibly accessed pensions and anyone using carry forward. Large contributions should therefore be tested against the current-year allowance, actual prior-year unused allowance and the separate tax-relief rules for personal contributions. For straightforward cases the calculator above provides a useful planning figure. Defined-benefit schemes, MPAA cases involving DB accrual, very high incomes, overseas pension issues and large employer contributions can require a bespoke calculation before money is paid. ## Sources and further reading - [HMRC: pension schemes rates](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-pension-schemes/pension-schemes-rates?ref=taxtrends.co.uk) - [GOV.UK: pension annual allowance](https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension/annual-allowance?ref=taxtrends.co.uk) - [GOV.UK: carry forward unused annual allowance](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-have-unused-annual-allowances-on-your-pension-savings?ref=taxtrends.co.uk)