NotSure44

In that case, do I include only the payments in my tax return within that year, or is it the total amount including any refunds during the year?

I am a GP partner. In my first few years with the practice there were some issues with my pension contributions - which are taken by PCSE from the practice as part of the monthly global sum settlement. These were resolved with some 'catch up' adjustments (sometimes refunds and sometimes payments) which mean that my actual cash contributions to the scheme look very lumpy in these years. Some illustrative numbers below: Year 1: £10k (should have been £25k, based on my actual income and applicable % in the NHS pension scheme) Year 2: £45k (should have been £20k) Year 3: £20k (should have been £30k) As a result the overall contributions across these 3 years are about right, but their effect in each tax year is significantly different owing to differing marginal rates of income tax applicable as I am around £100-125k gross income (pre contributions) depending on the tax year. The only guidance relating to pension contributions that I am aware of is that they are deducted from taxable income at the point they are paid. Therefore my question is -- in this case (particularly with the NHS pension and mechanism of PCSE taking deductions rather than being 'paid' by me directly), is there any guidance or precedent for deducting the pension 'liability' for each tax year (i.e. the 25/20/30) rather than the actual payments (the 10/45/20) ? As I think this would more accurately reflect the relationship between earnings and pension, and avoid the impacts of over/under contributions due to (for example) PCSE admin errors. Have checked the guidance in BIM54020 and PTM044100 but I don't think this covers this particular question.