These two questions/statements are addressing different aspects of the pension tax system.

The general principle is that you should be able to have pension contributions be tax-free up to the £40k limit (or less for very high earners).

If your employer makes the contribution, they do so before you are even charged income tax, so the contributions are automatically tax-free.

If you make the contribution, tax relief needs to be claimed to ensure that the end result is that the contributions are tax-free. The pension scheme does this for basic-rate relief, and if you pay higher-rate tax then you use self-assessment to get the higher-rate part of the relief.

So you need to add up all contributions - yours and the employers - to figure out the £40k limit. But only your contributions go into self-assessment for the purpose of getting higher-rate relief.

These two questions/statements are addressing different aspects of the pension tax system.

The general principle is that you should be able to have pension contributions be tax-free up to the £40k limit (or less for very high earners).

If your employer makes the contribution, they do so before you are even charged income tax, so the contributions are automatically tax-free.

If you make the contribution, tax relief needs to be claimed to ensure that the end result is that the contributions are tax-free. The pension scheme claims the basic-rate relief and adds it to the amount you send them. If you pay higher-rate tax then you use self-assessment to get the higher-rate part of the relief which goes back in your pocket.

So you need to add up all contributions that go into the pension scheme - yours including the basic rate tax relief, and the employers' - to figure out the £40k limit. But only your contributions go into self-assessment for the purpose of getting higher-rate relief.

These two questions/statements are addressing different aspects of the pension tax system.

The general principle is that you should be able to get pension contributions tax free up to the £40k limit (or less for very high earners).

If your employer makes the contribution, they do so before you are even charged income tax, so the contributions are automatically tax-free.

If you make the contribution, tax relief needs to be claimed to ensure that the end result is that the contributions are tax-free. The pension scheme does this for basic rate relief, and you have to do this in self assessment for any higher rate relief.

So you need to add up all contributions - yours and the employers - to figure out the £40k limit. But only your contributions go ito self assessment for the purpose of getting higher rate relief.

These two questions/statements are addressing different aspects of the pension tax system.

The general principle is that you should be able to have pension contributions be tax-free up to the £40k limit (or less for very high earners).

If your employer makes the contribution, they do so before you are even charged income tax, so the contributions are automatically tax-free.

If you make the contribution, tax relief needs to be claimed to ensure that the end result is that the contributions are tax-free. The pension scheme does this for basic-rate relief, and if you pay higher-rate tax then you use self-assessment to get the higher-rate part of the relief.

So you need to add up all contributions - yours and the employers - to figure out the £40k limit. But only your contributions go into self-assessment for the purpose of getting higher-rate relief.