Frequently Asked Questions

When you pay into a workplace pension using “Relief at Source”, your pension provider automatically claims back basic-rate tax relief (20%) from HMRC and adds it to your pension pot.

But if you earn over £50,270 (the higher-rate threshold), you’re entitled to an additional 20% relief on contributions that fall in the higher-rate band. If you earn over £125,140, the additional rate gives you 25% extra. This additional relief isn’t claimed automatically - you have to ask HMRC for it.

You may be eligible if you pay into a workplace pension that uses “Relief at Source” and your annual income exceeds £50,270. This includes most personal pensions and many workplace schemes, particularly those run by large providers. If your pension uses “Net Pay” or “Salary Sacrifice”, higher-rate relief is applied automatically and there is nothing extra to claim.

It depends on your income and how much you contribute. As a rough guide, someone earning £60,000 and contributing £200/month to a Relief at Source pension could be owed around £400-£500 per year. Over four prior years plus the current year, that could add up to £2,000 or more.

Yes, absolutely. You can claim the additional relief from HMRC directly, at no cost. There are several ways to do this:

• Self Assessment tax return - if you already file one, you can include your pension contributions and HMRC will calculate the additional relief as part of your return.
• Write to HMRC - you can send a letter to HMRC’s Pay As You Earn department with your contribution details and they will process the claim.
• Call HMRC - you can phone HMRC’s Income Tax helpline (0300 200 3300) to request the relief over the phone.

Our service exists for people who don’t file Self Assessment and would rather not spend time working out the figures, writing a letter, printing it, and posting it themselves. We handle the calculation, letter generation, and physical posting for a flat £30 fee - typically a small fraction of what you’re owed.

1. Quick estimate - enter your salary and pension contribution to see roughly how much you could be owed.
2. Upload payslips - snap photos or upload PDFs of your payslips. Our system extracts the details automatically.
3. Confirm your details - review the extracted data, make any corrections, and add your bank details so HMRC knows where to send your refund.
4. Pay £30 - a one-off flat fee, no percentage cut.
5. We post your letter - we generate a formal claim letter and post it to HMRC via first-class Royal Mail. You don’t need a printer, envelope, or stamp.

The fee covers the cost of running the service: payslip analysis, letter generation, printing, and first-class postage. Unlike some tax refund companies that take 30-50% of your refund, we charge a flat fee regardless of how much you’re owed.

No. We are a document preparation and postal delivery service. We do not provide tax advice or financial advice. The claim letter is based entirely on the information you provide, and you review it before it’s sent. If you need tax advice, we recommend speaking to a qualified tax professional.

Ideally, your March payslip for each tax year you want to claim for (March is the final month of the UK tax year). If you changed jobs during a tax year, we’ll also need a payslip from your previous role. You can claim for the current year plus the previous four tax years.

Check your email - many employers send payslips electronically. You can also ask your employer or payroll provider for copies. If you can’t find payslips for some years, you can still claim for the years you do have documentation for.

You can claim for the current tax year plus the previous four. For example, in the 2026/27 tax year, you can claim back to 2022/23 - that’s up to five years of relief.

HMRC will receive your letter and process the claim. For prior tax years, they typically send a cheque or BACS payment within 6-8 weeks. For the current year, they may adjust your tax code so you pay less tax for the remainder of the year.

Most claims are processed within 6-8 weeks, though it can take longer during busy periods (particularly around the end of the tax year in April). HMRC will write to you directly with the outcome.

For the current tax year, rather than sending you a lump sum, HMRC typically adjusts your tax code. This means you’ll pay less income tax each month for the rest of the tax year, effectively receiving the relief through your pay packet.

If you claim a tax code adjustment for the current year, it is your responsibility to inform HMRC if your circumstances change.

This includes changes to your pension contributions, changing employer, a significant change in income, or stopping contributions altogether. If your tax code is based on outdated information, you could end up owing tax at the end of the year or receiving less relief than expected. You can update HMRC by calling 0300 200 3300 or writing to them.

For prior years (completed tax years), HMRC will send you a lump-sum refund - either by BACS to your bank account or by cheque. For the current year (the tax year still in progress), HMRC will typically adjust your tax code to reduce your monthly tax going forward, rather than sending a separate payment.

Yes. We do not create user accounts and we do not store your personal data on our servers. Everything you enter stays in your browser’s local storage, which you can clear at any time. When you submit your claim, the data is used to generate a PDF letter which is posted to HMRC. Our postage provider (Stannp) retains the PDF for up to 30 days after posting, after which it is deleted. No data is stored on our servers at any point.

Your payslip images are sent to Google’s Gemini API for automated data extraction (reading the text on your payslip). They are processed immediately and are not stored on our servers. Google deletes the images within 30 days and does not use them to train their AI models.

Since all your data is stored in your browser’s local storage, you can delete it by clearing your browser data. In most browsers, go to Settings → Privacy → Clear browsing data → select “Site data” or “Local storage”. There is nothing to delete on our servers because we don’t store anything.

Yes. If HMRC determines that you are not entitled to additional pension tax relief, we will refund your £30 fee in full. Simply submit a copy or photo of the HMRC response letter via our contact form and we’ll process your refund.

If your claim is rejected because you were not eligible for additional relief (for example, your pension already uses Net Pay or Salary Sacrifice), we will refund your £30 fee. Send us the HMRC response letter via our contact form and we’ll take care of it.