When does the tax year end?
The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April the following year. Before it ends, it’s a good time to check in on your pension and stocks and shares ISA. Planning ahead helps you make the most of your allowances and tax benefits, whether with a one-off contribution or by increasing regular contributions.
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Deadline for contributions
If you're making a pension or ISA contribution, we need to receive both your completed application and payment by 6pm on 2 April 2026. Banking times can vary, so please make sure you allow enough time for your payment to reach our account before this deadline.
Power up your pension and ISA this tax year
Pension
Get closer to your retirement goals by making a one-off pension contribution.
Stocks and Shares ISA
Utilise your tax-free ISA allowance with a one-off contribution.
ProfitShare
By paying in more, you could increase your ProfitShare award.
It's important to remember that the value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you could get back less than you pay in. If a plan is eligible for ProfitShare, you need to have taken it out with us before 31 December 2025 to qualify for a payment this year. Some older pension plans are not eligible for ProfitShare.
Using bonuses and salary sacrifice
Tax year end may also be a time when you get a bonus from your employer, so you could ask them to pay some or all of it into your pension. This is called bonus exchange or bonus sacrifice. You won't pay tax or National Insurance on the bonus amount you choose to exchange for a pension contribution.
Find out more by reading our article or your employer may be able to help with next steps.
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Remember, any pension contributions you make are invested until at least age 55 (57 from 2028), so while your investments could grow, they can also go down. You could also get back less than you put into your plan. Tax relief depends on your individual circumstances, where you live in the UK and could change in the future.
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You can also speak to a financial adviser about making a one-off contribution. If you don’t have one, find out where to look for an adviser.
Your annual allowances
Your annual allowance is the total amount you can pay into all your pension plans each year without facing a tax charge. If you're paying into an ISA too, it’s worth remembering that there’s a limit on how much you can put in during the tax year — and unlike pensions, any unused ISA allowance can’t be carried over into the next year. So if you want to make the most of it, you’ll need to use your ISA allowance before the tax year ends.
Pension allowances
For the 2025/26 tax year, the annual allowance is £60,000. This means:
- you can usually get tax relief on pension contributions of up to £3,600 or 100% of your earnings a year - whichever is greater
- if you pay more than £60,000 into your pensions, a tax charge may apply to your contributions
- different rules may apply if you’ve started taking money from your pension, or you have a high income, for more details, read our pensions and tax guide
- any allowance you don't use can be carried forward and used in the new tax year.
ISA allowances
For the 2025/26 tax year, the annual ISA allowance is £20,000. This means:
- you can pay in up to £20,000 across all ISA types in a single tax year (excluding Lifetime ISAs)
- any allowance you don't use by the end of the tax year will be lost - it can't be carried forward into the new tax year
- if you want to you can open and pay into more than one ISA of the same type in the same tax year, as long as your total contributions stay within the £20,000 annual limit
- when you transfer an existing ISA, it won’t affect your annual ISA allowance for the current tax year.