LTA Protection Transitional Tax-Free Amount Calculator (Post-April 2024)

The Lifetime Allowance (LTA) was abolished from 6 April 2024 under the Finance (No.2) Act 2023 and the Pensions (Abolition of Lifetime Allowance Charge etc) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/356). The LTA was replaced by two new lump sum allowances: the Lump Sum Allowance (LSA) of £268,275 and the Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance (LSDBA) of £1,073,100.

People who held LTA protections (Enhanced Protection, Fixed Protection, Individual Protection) before 6 April 2024 have their LSA and LSDBA set based on their protected LTA level, not the standard amounts. The transitional tax-free amount is 25% of the protected LTA for the LSA, and the full protected LTA for the LSDBA — if no benefits were taken before abolition.

Enhanced Protection holders generally have the highest transitional tax-free amounts. Many EP holders had the right to a lump sum exceeding 25% of the fund (for those who had greater than 25% tax-free cash rights before 6 April 2006). These pre-2006 rights are preserved and carry through to the new LSA framework.

If you crystallised pension benefits before 6 April 2024, your transitional tax-free amount is reduced based on the tax-free lump sums already paid. The transitional regulations allow schemes to issue a Transitional Tax-Free Amount Certificate (TTFAC) to confirm your available amounts. Request this from your pension provider.

No active re-registration was needed. Existing protections (HMRC reference numbers) carry through automatically. However, for Fixed Protection, you must not have made any new pension contributions or joined a new arrangement after the protection date (2012, 2014 or 2016) — that rule remains in force.

The standard LSA is £268,275 — this represents 25% of the old standard LTA of £1,073,100. It limits the total tax-free cash you can take from all pension arrangements across your lifetime. If your total tax-free cash taken exceeds the LSA, the excess is taxed as income at your marginal rate.

The LSDBA (£1,073,100 standard amount) limits the total tax-free amounts that can be paid from your pensions on death. It covers uncrystallised funds lump sum death benefits, annuity protection lump sums, and drawdown fund lump sum death benefits. Amounts above the LSDBA are taxed as income of the recipient.

Yes. The pension recycling rules (preventing you from taking tax-free cash and then contributing it back to a pension to generate more tax relief) still apply independently of the LTA abolition. Breaching the recycling rules triggers an income tax charge on the recycled amount.