Offseting business expenses against pension income

Hi I am in the situation where I have received c25k from a uk pension. The provider deducted no tax for 22-23 tax year for some reason. I also have 3 business that are yet to recover from covid impact so have not been able to take an income but have incurred c£4.5k of expenses keeping them running. Im doing my self assessment return put in my pension income in uk pensions section and the expenses against each company with a Nil income return. I'm being told I owe c3k in tax for 2022/2023 but by my calculations the business expenses tax relief offsets the pension tax. Any idea how I should report the figures to ensure I'm not over taxed ? Thanks

Hi,
You may not be able to use the losses from your business to set against the pension income.
If you use the cash basis for your accounts, the losses can only be used against the same trade. see further guidance:
BIM85000 - Trade losses: contents and associated links to see if you can actually claim them against the pension.
Thank you

Hi. They are not trading losses its I have done business miles and subsistence for each of my businesses. As a director of each company I have put the relevant miles as an employee/director of each company. However I have not taken a salary from the companies so the 40ppm tax relief is against a Nil income for each company. As I have a pension source that is taxable are you saying I can not use the relief against my total income only that per company ? Thanks

Hi Pete Trouse,

The expenses can only be set against the employment they are incurred with.  
They cannot be set against anything else, such as a pension payment.  

The guidance here advises that expenses cannot exceed the amount of earnings.
EIM31810 - Travel expenses: general: introduction: the tests to be passed

Thank you.