Carry Forward Pension HMRC calculator and own calculations - no match

Hi I like to maximise my pension contributions and have done a lot of reading up, found some excel calulators (quilter) and created my own but am still confused I have calculated my (rounded figures) 1. Nett income for the last 4 years ( tax years 20/21 to 23/24), about £198k rising to £218k in 23/24 2. my pension contributions (relief at source) £1920 per year, (but do i include the tax relief of £480 or leave it out)? 3. employer contribution £7k in 20/21 and rising to £7600 in 20/24 I then calculated my threshold income and adjusted income, my adjusted income is under the £240k for the TY 20/21-23 and below the £260k for TY 23/24 with no taper Which leads me to belief my annual allowance is the max contribution for those tax years and I can carry forward the following TY 20-21 £40k minus £8.8k = £31.2k TY 21-22 £40k minus £9k = £31k TY 22-23 £40K minus £9.3 = £30.7k TY 23-24 £60K minus £9.5k = £50.5k Total £143.4k But when I use the HMRC calculator i get very different figures, (? when asked about your pension savings, is this with or without the tax relief I received ,20% basic and then higher tax rate relief as well, or just the amount without tax relief + employers pension contribution? For instance for TY 23-24 it shows Available Annual Allowance £152k, pension savings of £9.5k (this matches my overview) and unused annual allowance £112k and for TY 22-23 the numbers are £105k, £9.3k and £92.7k Do these HMRC figures for TY 23-24 include carried over figures from the previous years? The £112k does not match my £143.4k unless the HMRC figures already include the 20% tax relief and in that case the discrepency is about £112 (HMRC number) and £114k (according to my calculations and the online excel calculator I found) still a £2k difference and I have input the same numbers Are my own calculations correct and is my carry forward allowance £143.4k or am I making a fundamental mistake and is HMRC right (I like to think so) Would love to know the answer to this

Hi taxquestionsforHMRC,
When working out your figures you need to take into account the total contribution made and this includes any tax relief applied as well as any employer contributions. there is a calculator available within the guidance here:
HS345 Pension savings — tax charges (2023)
Thank you. 

Hi Do you mean this calculator? https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/pension-annual-allowance-calculator that is the one I have used When it asks me for my pension contributions I have given 1 .my personal pension contribution + basic tax relief of 20%, £2400 per year) 2. my employers pension contribution Are you saying I should also include the higher tax relief for my personal pension contribution (£3000 in total per year) One final question, why do I have to enter income and pension confirmation going back to TY 2010-2011 if you can only calculate the carry forward for the 3 previous tax years?), can I just select tax year 2020-2021 and forward instead to save a bit of time, it makes no difference to the calculation

Hi,

When working out your unused annual allowance to carry forward, you do not include the payments made by your employer, you only count payment you have made.  

Please have a look at the examples at:

PTM055100 - Annual allowance: carry forward: The carry forward rule - general

Thank you.