Yes, you can pay into your spouse's or partner's pension. For tax it counts as their contribution, so the relief goes to them, not to you.

The tax rules allow husbands, wives, civil partners and unmarried couples to pay into each other's personal pension or SIPP; how the money is taken is up to the provider. What the rules look at is whose pension it is, how much that person earns and how the provider adds tax relief. Questions about your own household belong with an FCA-authorised adviser, and one will ring you, without charge, once either of you sends the form on this page.

Whose payment it is for tax purposes

HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual allows a person other than the member or the member's employer to pay into a registered pension scheme for that member, and says that person can be an individual, a company or another legal entity. The rule that decides most of what follows comes next: unless it is an employer's, a contribution is treated for tax purposes as the member's own, and any relief due belongs to the member rather than to whoever paid.

So the payer gets no income tax relief of their own, and the payment counts towards the member's limits, not the payer's. Where the scheme gives relief at source, a third party may pay net of basic-rate tax, but any higher-rate relief on that money can be claimed only by the member: in the manual's words, "the contribution is attributed to the individual who is the member of the scheme". The pot belongs to the person whose name is on the plan; what happens to it if a couple separates is in the pensions and divorce guide.

The rest of this page is about personal pensions and SIPPs. What a SIPP is, and how it differs from a personal pension, is in the SIPP guide and the personal pension guide.

How much can go in with tax relief

The ceiling is set by the member's position, not by what the payer can afford. The manual says the most a member can have relief on in a tax year is "potentially the greater of" two amounts: a "basic amount", which it currently gives as £3,600, or the member's relevant UK earnings chargeable to income tax for the year (100% of annual earnings, in GOV.UK's plainer terms). One limit covers what the member pays, what you pay and the relief the provider reclaims. Anything over it can still be paid in, but no tax relief is due on the excess. How relief works more generally is in the tax relief guide.

A partner with little or no income

For someone who pays no income tax, GOV.UK puts the provider's 20% claim at contributions of up to 80% of their earnings, or up to £2,880 in a year with no earnings at all. Relief on a contribution above the member's earnings, up to £3,600, can be given only where the scheme uses relief at source, the manual adds, and GOV.UK says all personal and stakeholder pensions do.

Our working, dated 20 October 2026: £2,880 divided by 0.8 is £3,600, so a payment of £2,880 attracts £720 of relief and £3,600 reaches the pension.

A partner who earns

With earnings, the ceiling rises with them. Our working, dated 20 October 2026, for a net payment of £8,000 into a partner's relief at source plan: £8,000 divided by 0.8 is £10,000, so the provider claims £2,000 and £10,000 reaches the pot. If all of that £10,000 comes out of income the member pays 40% tax on in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, they could claim a further £2,000 (40% less 20%, on £10,000) on their own Self Assessment tax return; the payer cannot claim it. How that claim works is in the tax relief guide. Scotland has its own rates, so the figure would differ there. The member needs enough relevant UK earnings that year to cover the whole £10,000; relief on any excess is not due.

Age, timing and registration

Relief is for the tax year in which the money is paid, and unused relief cannot be carried to another year. The manual says contributions can still be paid after a member reaches 75, but they are not relievable and cannot qualify for tax relief. The scheme also has to be registered with HMRC.

The annual allowance is the member's

GOV.UK says the annual allowance counts "the total amount paid in to a defined contribution scheme in a tax year by you or anyone else". Your payments therefore sit alongside your partner's own and their employer's. The allowance is £60,000 for the 2026/27 tax year, and can be lower for someone with a high income or who has flexibly accessed a pension pot, which matters if the partner you are paying for has already done that. The annual allowance guide covers the limit, carry forward and the charge.

If your partner is close to their limit, say so in the enquiry you make through the form on this page. It is worth telling the FCA-authorised adviser who rings you, and it costs nothing.

Gifts and inheritance tax

Money given to another person can be a gift for inheritance tax: GOV.UK's gifts guidance lists money among the things that count, and points to a solicitor or tax adviser for what can be given away tax free. Whether a particular payment into a pension is treated as a gift is a question for that kind of adviser. The exemptions that exist depend on whether you are married.

If you are married or in a civil partnership

The same guidance says there is "no Inheritance Tax to pay on gifts between spouses or civil partners", with no cap on what you give during your lifetime, as long as they live in the UK permanently and are legally married or in a civil partnership with you. Both conditions apply, so for a couple where one lives abroad it is worth checking how they fit.

If you are not

That exemption is worded for spouses and civil partners. Others giving money can look at the allowances in the gifts guidance: an annual exemption of £3,000 of gifts each tax year, and a separate exemption for regular gifts it calls "normal expenditure out of income", which has no upper limit provided "you can afford the payments after meeting your usual living costs" and "you pay from your regular monthly income". A partner paying in monthly out of their salary and a partner paying a lump sum from savings are in different positions under the second test. Under the seven-year rule, no tax is due on gifts if the giver lives for seven years after making them, unless the gift is part of a trust. The guidance also says to keep a record of what was given, to whom, its value and when. Pension death benefits explains what happens to the pot itself.

Getting a payment into the plan

Because the plan is the member's, the provider deals with the member. Under relief at source, HMRC says the scheme administrator must receive information and declarations from the member before it can claim relief, and GOV.UK lists what a provider asks for: full name and address, date of birth, National Insurance number and employment status. A payer wanting to help should expect the provider to ask the member for those details, not the payer.

Some questions are for the provider. These include whether it will take a payment from a bank account that is not the member's, and whether it expects the payment net or gross of basic-rate tax. HMRC's manual says a third party "may" pay net; how a given scheme handles it is for that scheme to say. Workplace schemes are separate. GOV.UK says some give relief at source and others take contributions from pay before income tax, and whether a workplace scheme accepts money from anyone other than the member and their employer is a matter for the scheme itself.

Questions about paying into a partner's pension

Can a husband pay into his wife's pension, or a wife into her husband's?

Yes, in either direction, and the rules above are the same. The tax rules look at whose pension it is, not at who pays or at the relationship.

Can I pay into my partner's pension if we are not married?

Yes. HMRC's manual lets any individual pay in for a member, and the conditions it sets are about the member. What does turn on marriage is the inheritance tax spouse exemption, covered above, which is worded for spouses and civil partners.

Do I get tax relief on what I pay into my wife's or husband's pension?

Not yourself. HMRC's manual attributes the contribution to the member, so any relief goes to them. How much they can claim depends on their earnings and tax rate, as set out above.

How much can I pay into my spouse's pension?

There is no cap on what can be paid in, but relief is limited to the member's own ceiling and the annual allowance can bring a charge. A partner with no earnings has relief on up to £3,600 gross, which is £2,880 paid in; one with earnings has the higher ceiling described above.

Can I pay into someone else's pension, such as an adult child's?

The manual says the person paying can be an individual, a company or another legal entity, so it is not limited to couples. The member still gets the relief and the annual allowance still counts the payment. For a child's plan see the junior SIPP guide.

The next step

Whether paying into a partner's plan is better than paying into your own, how it sits with both your tax positions and what it means for inheritance tax all depend on your figures. One step is left, and the form on this page covers it: a couple of minutes, free of charge. Mention that you are thinking of paying into a partner's plan, and an adviser authorised by the FCA will ring to talk it through.

The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and a pension may return less than was paid in.

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