Find out how to complete and send a relief at source annual information return if you are a pension scheme administrator.
You’ll need to complete and submit an annual return of information. It must include details of each scheme member who has an individual contribution more than £0 for that tax year.
When you must send your return
If you’re operating a relief at source scheme you must send HMRC an annual return for each tax year ending 5 April.
You must do this by the following 5 July. If you do not, you will not receive:
If you submit your return HMRC will continue to treat it as outstanding if:
- the information is incomplete — this includes if you have not submitted the declaration
- it’s in the wrong format
- it cannot be opened
HMRC will tell you if the information has been successfully received, or if you need to correct or re-submit it.
Formats you can use to send a return
Registered pension scheme relief at source spreadsheet
You can send HMRC your return on an Excel spreadsheet that is pre-structured to the format that needs to be followed.
To help you submit the information successfully using the spreadsheet, we’ve included conditional formatting. This means that if you’ve entered too many characters in a cell, the spreadsheet column header in rows 1 and 2 will:
- change back when you have corrected the errors
If you submit the spreadsheet to HMRC without removing the excess characters:
- you’ll need to resubmit an amended spreadsheet
The spreadsheets:
- are in Excel version 2010 (.xlsx)
- have conditional formatting that detects if the specification requirements have not been met
Flat electronic text file
You can send HMRC your return as an electronic flat text file. This must be in ASCII. The content of files should conform with HMRC’s registered pension schemes electronic flat text file specifications.
This will create a flat text file. CSV files are not acceptable.
How to send your return
You must send your return using the Transfer files securely with HMRC service.
Contact the pension schemes helpline if you:
- need help with the information required on the return
- you have any difficulties in complying
If you need help with your submission, or you’ve not had confirmation from HMRC that it’s been successful) contact us either by: