Pension Annual Allowance Carry over

[tmreynolds]

Hi, been working abroad in Dubai for last 4 years, returning to UK now (its snowing in April?!).

Falling foul of the new 150k+ annual allowance changes. I am a top rate tax payer.

I moved my company pension to a SIPP whilst offshore and made no contributions in last 3 years.

I was advised that as i had an active SIPP and made no contributions whilst offshore I can carry over? 50k for 13/14, 40k for 14/15 and 40k for 15/16. So i have essentially 170k i can put in (over 3 years if i prefer) and get top rate tax relief on this 170k

Can someone pls confirm my understanding here as this is obviously a big bonus

thanks in advance.

[LozaACCS]

You need to be UK resident for at least part of the year and have qualifying UK earnings from which to make the contribution, otherwise yes

[tmreynolds]

I am back resident from June 1, but been non resident for last 4 or 5 years. So from June 1 I can use the carry over from last 3 years? Thx

[jason13]

I was advised that as i had an active SIPP and made no contributions whilst offshore I can carry over? 50k for 13/14, 40k for 14/15 and 40k for 15/16. So i have essentially 170k i can put in (over 3 years if i prefer) and get top rate tax relief on this 170k

What you say about "over 3 years if i prefer" is not correct. You can only carry forward each allowance for 3 years. So if you don't use the allowance from 13-14 in 16-17, you'll lose it. You cannot use the 13-14 allowance in 17-18.

So you have to put in 90k this year if you want to make use of your full allowance (40k from 16-17 and 50k for 13-14). And 80k in the next two tax years.

Pay attention to the Life Time Allowance (LTA) which is getting lower and lower.

Also, while not related to pensions: since you were non-resident for only 4 tax years (if I understood correctly), make sure you understand the temporary non-residence rules.