13th March 2013

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The tax year ends on 5th April 2013, so it’s worthwhile taking a couple of minutes to ensure you have maximised any allowances or tax breaks.  The most common are:

  • ISAs.  Every tax year millions of pounds of tax is paid unnecessarily by people not using the most appropriate tax wrappers.  If you haven’t maximised your ISA allowances then now is the time to consider doing so.
  • Pension Contributions.  Similar to the above, pension plans give unrivalled tax advantages.  Changing legislation has made it imperative to top up any pensions each tax year.  It is no longer an option to pay large lump sums into pension plans immediately before retirement so forward thinking is needed.
  • Avoid losing any Child Benefit.  One of the most emotive topics of recent legislation is the removal of Child Benefits for those whose taxable yearly income exceeds £50k.  The savings can be huge if you are able to reduce your net relevant earnings by a little forward planning.  Ask us for more information.
  • Maximising any Capital Gains Tax allowances.  Each person can make £10600 tax free profit in terms of capital gains this tax year.  If it isn’t used, this allowance disappears on 5th April.
  • Taking advantage of specialist tax vehicles.  These plans are mostly suited to more speculative investors whose assets and income is geared to taking advantage of such plans, but if you want to know more we can help.
  • Deferring or advancing income.  Something to consider for those who are in control of their income, bonuses, pension income or dividends.  It is worth consulting both us and your accountants.
  • Claiming higher rate tax relief on previous years pension contributions.  We will cover this in more detail in a subsequent blog, but if you were a higher rate tax payer in the tax year 2008/2009 it is important to check you received 40% tax relief on all your pension contributions.  As this will not be repaid to you after 5th April 2013.

Each of the above are valuable allowances which will all be lost on 5th April so now is the opportunity to consider how any of these areas could apply to you.  We can certainly help with this so get in touch.