If you haven’t used all of your annual allowances for your pension in the last three years, you may still be able to use some of these annual allowances.
This is known as the ‘carry forward’ rule, which allows you to add more than the annual allowance (currently £40,000) to your pension in a year while avoiding the annual allowance charge.
To use the carry forward rule, which must be done via self-assessment, you must:
Have been a member of a pension scheme in each year you wish to carry forward the annual allowance
Have used up your full annual allowance this current tax year
Earn at least the amount you wish to contribute to your pension in that tax year
Use any unused allowance from the earliest year first
Not have triggered the MPAA, you cannot use carry forward to increase the MPAA limit (currently £4,000)