Pension Annual Allowance Calculator: Taper, Carry Forward and MPAA
Check pension savings against the 2026/27 allowance rules. Separate your allowance calculation from personal contribution relief and the tax charge on an excess.
How much annual allowance do I have?
The standard annual allowance is £60,000. Tapering applies only if threshold income exceeds £200,000 and adjusted income exceeds £260,000, reducing it to a minimum £10,000. Checked unused allowances from the previous three years may cover an ordinary excess.
If MPAA applies, carry forward cannot cover input above the £10,000 money-purchase limit. The calculation below compares the applicable default and alternative excess amounts rather than treating everything as one enlarged contribution limit.
Your 2026/27 allowance assumptions
Use checked pension input amounts across all schemes. Threshold and adjusted income are HMRC-defined amounts, not necessarily salary. The defaults are an illustration, not your entitlement. This tool calculates allowance/excess amounts, not the tax charge or personal contribution tax relief.
Work this out using HMRC guidance. Relevant salary sacrifice add-backs and relief-at-source adjustments can matter.
Not simply threshold income plus employer contributions. Pension input and net-pay adjustments can affect the calculation.
All employee, employer and third-party DC contributions, including relief-at-source tax relief; do not add the same salary sacrifice twice.
Use scheme pension savings statements: benefit growth under tax rules, not your payroll contributions. Enter zero if no DB input.
Use the flexible-access statement and provider guidance. This tool does not decide whether a withdrawal was a trigger.
Checked unused carry-forward balances
Only eligible membership years count. Enter what remains available now after each year’s actual taper, pension input and any earlier carry-forward use. Do not enter an unused MPAA balance. These figures are not reconstructed from contributions here.
Confirm the assumptions to see the illustration.
Count pension input, not only your contributions
Reviewed 18 October 2026. For DC schemes use gross contributions by you, the employer and others, including tax relief credited under relief at source. Salary sacrifice is normally an employer contribution: do not add it again if it is already in the employer total.
For DB schemes, use the pension-input amount on the scheme’s pension savings statement. It is a tax valuation of benefit growth, including prescribed opening-value adjustments. This tool accepts that checked amount; it does not calculate a DB input value from salary, a commutation quote or a transfer value. Negative DB growth is treated as nil under the relevant input rules.
Threshold income and adjusted income are different tests
Follow HMRC’s definitions. Threshold income involves deductions for gross relief-at-source contributions and certain add-backs, including relevant salary-sacrifice arrangements made after 8 July 2015. Adjusted income starts separately from net income and includes specified pension-related adjustments. It is not simply threshold income plus employer contributions.
This calculator takes the completed income figures. It does not reconstruct tax-return income, net-pay relief, overseas relief or salary-sacrifice history. Gift Aid and other planning decisions should not be assumed to change the taper calculation in the same way as adjusted net income.
Worked allowance and MPAA examples
| Case | Current allowance | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Threshold £200,000, adjusted £360,000, no MPAA | £60,000 | No taper: threshold income is not over £200,000. |
| Threshold £250,000, adjusted £300,000; input £70,000, no carry forward/MPAA | £40,000 | £30,000 excess requiring a charge calculation. |
| Same tapered case, £20,000 eligible carry forward | £40,000 | £10,000 excess; carry forward used after current allowance. |
| MPAA triggered in a previous year; DC £20,000, DB £0, no taper; carry forward £50,000 | £60,000; alternative £50,000 | £10,000 MPAA excess remains despite carry forward. |
| MPAA triggered in a previous year; DC £20,000, DB £70,000; no taper or carry forward | £60,000; alternative £50,000 | Default £30,000; alternative £10,000 + £20,000 = £30,000. Chargeable amount £30,000. |
Carry-forward ordering example: no taper/MPAA, £85,000 total input and checked balances £10,000 from 2023/24, £20,000 from 2024/25 and £30,000 from 2025/26. Use £60,000 current allowance, then £10,000 of 2023/24 and £15,000 of 2024/25. No chargeable excess remains; £5,000 and £30,000 remain from the later balances, subject to their expiry rules.
What the result does and does not establish
The output shows pension input above the applicable allowance tests, not a contribution prohibition or a personal tax-relief limit. It does not estimate the tax charge: that calculation uses taxable income and applicable rates, which can span bands. Threshold income alone is not sufficient.
Previous-year unused amounts must already account for tapering, earlier pension input and carry-forward use. If an earlier year had MPAA restrictions, confirm the available alternative allowance balance. The tool does not reconstruct historical entitlements or decide whether an access event was a trigger. Hybrid/overseas, protected input, public-service remedy adjustments, death or serious-ill-health cases need appropriate official or professional checks.
Contact scheme administrators for statements and HMRC guidance on reporting an excess. Scheme Pays can reduce future pension benefits and has conditions and deadlines. No automatic eligibility decision or contribution strategy is provided here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Official sources and next checks
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