Pension tax relief after 75: you can still pay into a pension, but contributions paid after you reach 75 do not qualify for member tax relief.

Many people find out about the age-75 line only when a payment is refused relief, or when they ask what happens to a pot they intend to leave to someone. This page sets out what the law says changes at 75, what does not, and where employer payments fit. Your own birthday, earnings and scheme decide which of these rules bite; those three facts are what the free form on this page collects, after which an FCA-authorised adviser phones to go over them.

What changes at 75, and what does not

Age 75 matters to pension tax in two separate ways: whether a payment in earns relief, and how a pot is taxed when its owner dies. Most other rules are not tied to it.

QuestionPosition after 75
Can contributions still be paid into a registered scheme?Yes, subject to what the scheme accepts
Does a contribution you pay yourself, or someone pays for you, earn tax relief?No, if paid after you have reached 75
Can an employer still pay in?Yes; the employer's relief is a separate, business-side rule
Does the annual allowance still apply?Yes; the charge is drafted around scheme membership
Is tax-free cash still available?Limited by the lump sum allowance
How is the pot taxed when its owner dies?Death at 75 or over generally means beneficiaries are taxed as income

The rule itself: why a payment after 75 earns no relief

The statute is section 188 of the Finance Act 2004. Its first subsection gives relief for relievable pension contributions to an active member of a registered pension scheme who is a relevant UK individual for the year, which broadly means having UK earnings chargeable to income tax, being UK resident in the year, or meeting one of the other tests in section 189. The age limit sits in the list of contributions that are not relievable. Section 188(3)(a) removes "any contributions paid after the individual has reached the age of 75".

HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual puts it plainly: "Although contributions can be paid after a member has reached the age of 75, they are not relievable pension contributions and cannot qualify for tax relief." Its pension schemes rates page says "If you’re a UK resident aged under 75 you may receive tax relief on your contributions to registered pension schemes."

Three things follow from the wording.

  • The test is the date of payment. The bar applies to contributions "paid after" reaching 75, and relief belongs to the tax year in which the contribution is actually made. On that wording, a payment made before the birthday is outside the bar even if the tax year runs on past it. A provider can say how it dates a payment close to the birthday.
  • It does not matter who pays. The Act counts contributions paid by or on behalf of the individual, so a payment made for a member by a relative is in the same position as one the member makes.
  • It is a bar on relief, not on paying. Contributions "can be paid" after 75; whether a given scheme accepts them is a matter for that scheme's rules. How relief is normally given, and the earnings limit that applies up to 75, are in pension tax relief, with the methods in relief at source, net pay and salary sacrifice.

Employer contributions after 75

The same list sets employer payments apart. Its limb (b) names "any contributions paid by an employer of the individual" as not being the member's relievable contributions. That is not a ban. It reflects that an employer's payment is relieved elsewhere in the Act. HMRC's manual says relief for employers "is given by allowing contributions to be deducted as an expense in computing the profits" of the business; for a trade or profession, provided they are incurred wholly and exclusively for its purposes. The deduction belongs to the period of account in which the payment was made.

So the age-75 limb does not itself stop an employer paying into a scheme on behalf of an older employee. Whether the business gets its deduction depends on those ordinary employer tests. Where the employee is also a director or owner, limited company pension contributions and whether company contributions are tax deductible cover the business side. Whether a payment is taxable on the employee is in employer pension contributions and tax.

Automatic enrolment does not reach 75: GOV.UK applies it to workers aged between 22 and State Pension age who meet the earnings and work conditions. Beyond that range, the scheme's rules and the employment terms are what to check; the workplace pension rules explain who is enrolled.

Employer, scheme and earnings combine differently for each person. An FCA-authorised adviser can separate those threads; a name and number entered in the form on this page start the introduction.

The annual allowance does not switch off at 75

Relief and the annual allowance are two different tests. The annual allowance is the limit on tax-efficient saving: GOV.UK gives £60,000 for the 2026/27 tax year and counts everything paid into a defined contribution scheme in the year by the member or anyone else, an employer included. The charge in section 227 of the Finance Act 2004 is drafted around membership: it arises where a member of one or more registered pension schemes has a chargeable amount for the year. Age 75 is not a condition in that opening provision.

So an employer payment after 75 earns no member relief under section 188, yet still counts when the allowance is measured. The charge itself is explained in the annual allowance tax charge guide, unused allowance in pension carry forward and the limit in the annual allowance guide.

Tax-free cash and the allowances since April 2024

The lifetime allowance was abolished on 6 April 2024, according to GOV.UK, and two other allowances took over its work. The lump sum allowance, "the most you can take", is £268,275 for tax-free cash; the lump sum and death benefit allowance is the larger figure, £1,073,100, described as covering a serious ill-health lump sum and "certain lump sum death benefits paid to your beneficiaries". People holding protections may have different figures. Tax-free cash and the death benefit allowance have their own guides. The lifetime allowance guide covers what was replaced.

Finance Act 2024, Schedule 9, paragraph 124 gives the new regime effect "for the tax year 2024-25 and subsequent tax years", and section 216 of the 2004 Act, which listed benefit crystallisation events, now appears as omitted from 2024-25. The allowance test HMRC's manual describes applies when a death benefit is paid: a relevant lump sum death benefit is checked against the deceased member's lump sum and death benefit allowance immediately before it is paid, and any excess over what is left of it is taxed at the recipient's marginal rate. Charity lump sums, trivial commutation lump sums and lump sums from rights that crystallised under section 216 are not relevant lump sum death benefits.

If you die at 75 or over: tax on what you leave

This is the other place where 75 matters. GOV.UK's guide to inheriting a pension splits its table by the age of the person who died; where the owner was 75 or over, it shows Income Tax deducted by the provider on most lump sums and on an annuity or drawdown fund. A taxable beneficiary's annuity is charged at the recipient's marginal rate, under HMRC's guidance.

Where a lump sum goes to a company, a trustee or a personal representative (a "non-qualifying person"), section 206 of the 2004 Act applies the special lump sum death benefits charge, at a rate of 45%, for a member who died at 75 or over. The scheme, not the will, decides who receives the money (nominee versus beneficiary). Deaths under 75, the two-year window and how the tax is collected are covered in inherited pension tax and pension death benefits.

The April 2027 inheritance tax change, briefly

For deaths before 6 April 2027, GOV.UK says inheritance tax is not normally due on a pension lump sum because payment is "usually ‘discretionary’". Finance Act 2026 changes that: its section 66 treats a scheme member as entitled, just before death, to "notional pension property", and section 71 brings this in for deaths from that date. Income tax under the age-75 rules still applies on top. What is counted, what is excluded and who pays are in pensions and inheritance tax.

Questions about contributions after 75

At what age does pension tax relief stop?

For contributions paid by or for a member, it stops once the member has reached 75. The rule is in section 188 of the Finance Act 2004, and HMRC's rates page says relief is for UK residents aged under 75.

Can I still pay into a SIPP or personal pension after 75?

Yes: contributions can be paid after 75, though they do not earn relief. Whether a SIPP or personal pension provider takes new money from an older member is a question for that provider; the SIPP guide explains what the product is.

Can an employer keep paying pension contributions for an employee over 75?

The age bar in section 188 applies to the member's own relievable contributions, with employer contributions listed as a separate limb of the same subsection. The employer's relief follows the trade or business rules in HMRC's manual, as set out above, and the annual allowance still counts the payment.

Your next step

Whether it makes sense to keep paying in after 75, to ask an employer to pay, or to rethink what is left to family depends on earnings, other income, the type of scheme and who is likely to inherit. Someone authorised by the FCA to advise can hold these rules up against your circumstances; a name and phone number given in the form on this page begin a free introduction to one. Pension Wise, from MoneyHelper, is a free, government-backed guidance service, and before handing details to any firm, a few minutes on the FCA's pension scams page is time well spent.

Sources

Pages read on 20 October 2026 unless stated.