Have you made use of the exemptions and allowances available to you? This is particularly important this year due to the impact of COVID-19 and the anticipated tax rises going forward.
Contributions to your pension
Have you any unused pension contributions allowances you need to use up? The annual allowance is progressively dropping so if you have any remaining allowance, then it would be an idea to use it before the end of the tax year.
Company dividends
Director of a limited company? Deciding on which tax year to take your dividends in may save you some tax. There are dividend allowances and different tax rates on those dividends so ensure you speak to your tax advisor before taking profits from your company.
EIS and SEIS
Both of these schemes are approved by HMRC with attractive tax benefits on the growth of your investment. They also ease the pain a little if you end up losing money.
Gift Aid
If you like to make charitable donations, ensure you use the Gift Aid scheme to offer you some tax relief and add more to the charities own income. You can carry back some contributions into previous tax years, but the rules around this are a little complicated.
ISAs
Remember, you have £20,000 to invest in this tax year in either a cash ISA or a Stocks & Shares ISA. For Junior ISAs, it's £9,000. ISAs are a great way to build up a tax-free portfolio of investments.
Personal savings
Reorganise your investments in combination with your spouse or civil partner and make full use of your annual savings allowance. Who wouldn't like £1,000 tax-free interest?
Child benefit
If you keep your income below £50,000, you'll avoid the High Income Tax Benefit Charge if you make pension contributions and donations via Gift Aid.
Personal Allowance
Again, keep your income low. If it's below £100,000, you'll avoid the withdrawal of your personal allowance. You can make pension contributions and charitable donations using Gift Aid to help you do this.
Asset transfer
You can transfer assets to your spouse or civil partner when they pay less income tax, and that will reduce your Capital Gains Tax on the disposal.
And finally, do you know your tax code? Are you sure you have the right one? HMRC often get the codes wrong for high-earners so it really is worth checking you have the right code which could mean less tax liability when you do your end of year tax planning and subsequently file your return.
Until next time ...
HELEN BEAUMONT
Would you like to know more?
If anything I've written in this blog post resonates with you and you'd like to discover more, it may be a great idea to give me a call on 01908 774323 and let's see how I can help you.
Helen brings the personal tax planning experience of the top 20 tax companies to Essendon. Formerly of MacIntyre Hudson (with 45 offices nationwide), Helen worked at Chancery for more than 10 years before joining Essendon as the personal tax specialist.
Tax Planning can make a considerable difference to your tax liability. Helen has specialist knowledge and experience in tax planning and uses every opportunity to minimise your tax bill is utilised. By analysing your investments, income, profit and expenditures, Helen will provide strategic tax planning expertise that could offer significant savings, whilst delivering clear, honest advice and guidance.
When Helen is not at Essendon she spends time with her young son and likes going on long walks with the family dog.
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