Self Assessment: recording Universal Credit, pension contributions and student loans on your tax return

If you’re preparing for the upcoming Self Assessment filing deadline of 31st January 2025, you may be wondering how to record certain types of incomings and outgoings on your 2023/24 tax return. To help you out, here’s a quick and easy breakdown of how to record Universal Credit, pension contributions and student loan repayments.

First up, Universal Credit

Universal Credit payments are not taxable, so if you receive these payments you do not need to record them on your Self Assessment tax return.

Next up, pension contributions

If you made personal pension contributions during the 2023/24 tax year, you may need to record these payments in the 'Tax reliefs' section of your Self Assessment tax return. To do this, enter the total value of all the personal pension contributions you made during the tax year in the appropriate field. If you’re not sure whether you should record your pension contributions on your tax return, or which field you should use, seek help from HMRC or from an accountant.

Lastly, student loans

If you don’t earn income from employment

If you’re self-employed or a landlord with a rental income, HMRC uses the information you provide on your Self Assessment tax return to determine the total value of the student and/or postgraduate loan repayments you’ll need to make for the tax year in question.

If you file your Self Assessment through FreeAgent or online via HMRC, you’ll be asked ‘Did you repay or were you due to repay a Student Loan or Postgraduate Loan?’ Choose ‘Yes’ and then select the type of loan the repayments relate to (i.e. a student loan, a postgraduate loan or both).

If the repayments relate to either a student loan or a combination of student and postgraduate loans, select the relevant student loan plan type (1, 2 or 4). If the repayments only relate to a postgraduate loan, leave this section blank.

When you submit your completed tax return, HMRC will use this information to calculate the student loan repayments you’ll need to make for that tax year. This amount will then be included in your annual tax bill. Find out more in our handy guide to paying back your student loan when you’re self-employed.

If you earn income from employment

If you earn income from employment - either as a limited company director or as a sole trader who earns additional employment income - all or part of your student and/or postgraduate loan repayments are deducted from your salary automatically via PAYE. You will need to provide HMRC with information about these repayments on your tax return.

If you file Self Assessment through FreeAgent or online via HMRC, begin by providing the information outlined in the section above. Then, in the ‘Fill in your return’ section of your tax return, record the total amount of student loan repayments that were made automatically via PAYE over the course of the tax year.

Alternatively, if you made repayments for both student and postgraduate loans, you should record the total amount for each loan separately in the relevant boxes. You can find these figures on your P60 or by totalling the amounts shown on all your payslips for the tax year.

HMRC will then check the amount you record in this section against the information your employer submitted during the tax year via PAYE.

Paper tax returns

Please note, whether you earn income from employment or not, if you complete a paper tax return you will need to provide the information relating to student loan repayments in a different area of the form.

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