TX/UK – Annual allowance

Hi everyone,

I would appreciate your assistance on the following practice question 109 of the BPP revision kit FA21.

So, in tax year 20/21 John (employee) has contributed 18.000 to the employer’s occupational pension scheme, and the employer has contributed 12.000 on his behalf. Both John and the employer have made the same contributions for the past 5 years.

In tax year 20/21, John has made >312.000 adjusted net income, therefore his annual allowance is tapered to 4.000.
In the previous 3 tax years (18/19, 19/20, 20/21) John’s ANI did not overcome 150.000, so his AA was 40.000. Decreasing this for the pension contributions made from both John and his employer (18.000+12.000=30.000), John has 10.000 unused allowances for each of the past 3 years that can be carried forward.

With this said, I would expect the allowable pension contribution for the tax year 20/21 to be 34.000 (4.000 max. allowance from 20/21 and 30.000 carried forward from last 3 tax years).

However, the answer states 4.000 as the maximum gross pension contribution for tax year 20/21?
Could anyone share their thoughts on why is this so?

Thanks,