SIPP Contributions and MTD: Do They Go in Quarterly Updates?

No. SIPP contributions do not go in your MTD quarterly sole-trader update.

A SIPP is a type of private pension. Payments you make into it are private pension contributions, not expenses of your self-employed trade. They belong in the personal tax relief part of your year-end tax return, not in the quarterly business figures.

Why this is confusing

MTD quarterly updates and the year-end tax return use the same broad MTD software world, but they do different jobs. A quarterly update reports cumulative income and expenses for one self-employment or property source. It is a summary, not a tax return.

A SIPP contribution affects your personal tax position. It can affect tax relief, tax bands and the final calculation, but it is not turnover and it is not an ordinary business expense.

What happens during the quarterly update?

For a sole trader using flonancial's simple quarterly route, the template and upload flow deal with:

• turnover for the business; and
• ordinary allowable business expenses for the business.

Do not put pension contributions in either box. Including personal pension payments as business expenses would make the business figures wrong.

Where SIPP contributions belong

SIPP contributions are dealt with as private pension contributions. HMRC's guidance explains that many personal pensions use relief at source, where the provider claims basic-rate tax relief and adds it to the pension pot. Some people then claim further relief through Self Assessment if they pay tax above the basic rate.

If you complete a Self Assessment tax return, HMRC says private pension tax relief should be claimed through the tax return for the current tax year and previous years.

Does HMRC have an API for this?

Yes. HMRC has an Individuals Reliefs API for individual tax reliefs. That is separate from the quarterly self-employment update API. Some software may choose to let users add reliefs during the year so the running estimate is more complete, but that does not make pension contributions part of the quarterly update itself.

What flonancial supports

Flonancial's live quarterly update flow does not ask for SIPP contributions because Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 updates do not need them.

Private pension contributions are shown as In development on flonancial's HMRC Software Choices listing. HMRC defines that status as the provider having committed to build the feature in time for the 2026 to 2027 tax return. Because it is a year-end item, it needs to be ready before the 2026/27 tax return is finalised, not before a quarterly update is sent.

What records should you keep?

Keep your SIPP provider statements and contribution records. You may need:

• the pension provider name;
• the tax year the contributions relate to;
• the net amount you paid;
• the tax relief added by the provider, where relevant; and
• the gross contribution figure for tax-return purposes.

The exact figure to enter can depend on the type of pension and how relief was given, so use the provider statement and HMRC guidance rather than guessing from a bank transaction alone.

The safe rule

If it is a payment into your personal pension, keep it out of the quarterly business expenses. Keep the records, then deal with it in the year-end tax return.

Read HMRC's private pension tax relief guidance, HMRC's claiming pension relief guidance and the Individuals Reliefs API overview.