Smart Pension Tax Threshold Optimizer Tool
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Automatically calculate the optimal pension contributions to stay below tax thresholds, preserve childcare benefits, and maximize your take-home pay.
Added Feb 16, 2026
8 signals
The Problem
Workers with incomes near critical tax thresholds (£50K, £60K, £80K, £100K in the UK, or similar brackets elsewhere) struggle to figure out the right pension contribution amounts to reduce their adjusted net income and retain valuable benefits like free childcare hours and child benefit. The interaction between salary sacrifice, AVCs, one-off income spikes (redundancy, share vestings, bonuses), and multiple overlapping benefit cliffs makes manual calculation error-prone and stressful, often leading to costly mistakes or missed deadlines.
Potential Solution
Detailed solution approach available for premium members.
Why Now?
Market timing analysis available for premium members.
Am I letting the tail (Child Benefit Charge) wag the dog (my pension contributions)
Hi, I'm 34M currently earning 74k with bonus of around 6.5k. Next financial year, I expect salary to increase 4-5% and bonus rate of around 8-9%. My wife (38) works part time for NHS with a pro-rated salary of \~£16k. She's part of the 2015 DB Scheme and recently set up a LISA that will be maxed out annually. We have 2 kids (9 and 4) and claim Child Benefit for both in my name. The eldest has a JISA in their name (around 3.5k will be added this year), but not for the younger due to a life long disability. My employer offers a Salary Sacrifice pension with double match, up to 6% E'ee contribution/12% E'er. So I max this out to get the full 18%. I can pay more in without any additional E'er contribution. In recent years, I've been making AVCs to get my taxable pay below 60k but now am at a stage where I am making significant AVCs to get below the lower threshold. Pension pot is currently at 190k and is in 100% equities global index fund. Separately, I have a couple of S&S ISAs, one that I've been investing in myself for a few years via T212 in VWRP that is around 20k and the other that is a workplace ISA - my employer offers 50% match for whatever I pay in - via L&G (Future World ESG Tilted and Optimised Developed Index). This is around 8k in the first year. This year, I'll have have used around 10k of my allowance. I don't have a specific plan for the money, but likely will be used in near future on house renovations. (Edit: I am thinking whether to combine both ISAs into one, but that is for another day.) I also have money in savings accounts to use a lump sum amounts to pay towards the mortgage when we renew in 2028. We live comfortably with the net salary we bring in and recognise we're probably in a very fortunate position. I'm interested in views on whether I am letting the CB charge unduly dictate what I put away in my pension and if I should be doing something else instead, such as filling out the ISA's/JISA, and not worry so much about the charge? Thanks,
Should I salary sacrifice or take the tax hit?
Greetings all Would love some advice on approach based on our situation - I'm wondering whether it's worth salary sacrificing to stay under the £100k mark and to retain free childcare hours, or to just take the tax hit. Thanks in advance! Our situation: Me (30) and my wife (36). My salary: £155k, 15k sign on bonus when I start in April, get some stock options too. Wife's salary: £75k My pension: £45k total pot (low I know), salary contributions are employer 5%, employee 3%. I salary sacrificed 5k this last year to stay under £100k for the first time, in case relevant. Her pension: partly defined benefit (works at a uni), will get around £7k a year currently. She pays 6.1% salary, and gets 1/75th of salary as a pension when she leaves for every year she's worked at the uni. Savings: I have £11k in my S&S ISA, my wife has £12k in her S&S ISA. House: house value is approx £650k, debt we owe on mortgage is £275k over 17 years (remortgaging November this year). Annual expenditure is approximately £47k (including mortgage repayments). My student loan: £46k. We are going through the adoption process for 1-2 kids this year, and my wife is likely to drop down a grade at work and go part time (could imagine she'd be on around £50k). There's also the additional childcare costs that we've never yet had to factor in - hence asking about salary sacrifice. We've done our house up, and besides going to Asia for X3 weeks, have no other big expenses planned. We are happy with our current lifestyle. I'm unsure what to do and whether it's worth salary sacrificing to below £100k to maximise tax efficiency and retain the childcare hours, or to just take the hit. Our credit is good and we aren't *too* concerned about the emergency fund (have about £2.5k each in current accounts), and given that we could live off one of our salaries as it currently stands. TIA
Can I reduce taxable income through pension contributions in previous years and reclaim child benefit repayments?
I have had a salary of \~60-70k for the last three years. Due to this i have had to repay a portion of the child benefit amounts I receive for my daughter. This is the one where you repay a percentage of this sliding scale based on earnings 60-80k, used to be 50-60k. I have already repaid these amounts. If I paid a lump sum into my pension today, is there a way to allocate this against a previous years gross income and reclaim that child benefit? bonus question - I imagine I would also need to reclaim a further 20% higher tax relief too - is this quite easy to navigate on the self returns?
About to pay into SSIP for the first time, and I'm very confused
Hi, I'm self employed and in this tax year (2024-2025) I'm going to make around £56000 profit after expenses. I would like to pay into SSIP to keep my taxable income under £50'270. There are few things that confuse me: \- When shluld I pay the money in, and how much? The tax year hasn't finish yet and I don't know how much I will make exactly. I understand it needs to be an estimated guess and I need to pay around 2 weeks before the end of the tax year. Is that correct? \- I don't understand why HRMC adds 20%. If I pay in £5'730 thats money before I would need to pay tax on it. So why they are adding another 20%? Does it apply to self employed people as well? \- Ideally, I would like to put these money into a money fund and dripfeed them into all-world ETF. What is a recommended platform for someone with a relatively small pot? \- Can I use my savings from previous years to pay into SSIP this year? It's really confusing system, but only perhaps I'm about to do it for the first time. Does anyone have any advice on tgose queries, please?
Tax saving via pension contribution for this financial year
Hello all I'm intending to make a (urgent, last minute!) deposit into my pension (as an AVC) to reduce some tax I've had to pay on savings interest (already being deducted from my salary by HMRC). It is a local government pension scheme. I'd also like to avoid paying back any child benefit, as I've partially exceeded the threshold. I was bereaved in early 2025 and received some money which temporarily increased my savings (now less as I paid off my mortgage when the very low fixed term deal ended in Dec). Income received this financial year: * Salary (gross): £54,495 * Savings interest: £7,700 * Pension benefit (death in service payment): £11,000 How much would people recommend I deposit into said pension as a lump sum? Is there a simple calculation based on current income tax thresholds? I’m 45 and realise I won’t be able to access until my late fifties (and will take at least 15 years to mature anyhow). I’m treating this as an exercise in investing money that otherwise has and will be taxed so I’m not looking to move a huge sum. Incidentally, I invest into a stocks and shares ISA and have maxed out this year’s contributions. Thanks all.
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