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The end of the financial tax year will soon be upon us all (5th April) and time is running out to complete those tax year sensitive tasks. The end of tax year is of particular significance when managing your finances and investments and offers planning opportunities for every individual. At Fiducia Wealth Management we have put together an end of year checklist to help you get your finances in order and make the most of the available tax breaks.

Pensions

Pay into your pension – you receive tax relief on any contributions up to 100% of your earnings (capped at the current Annual Allowance of £40,000) or £3,600, whichever is greater. Making pension contributions can lower your income tax bill, restore lost personal allowances or help you avoid the child benefit tax charge.

Carry forward pension contributions– unused pension contribution Annual Allowances can be carried forward, and used, from the previous 3 years.

Pay into your spouse’s pension– even a non-earner can pay £2,880 each tax year into a pension and receive an additional £720 from HMRC.

Pay into a Junior SIPP– contribute up to £2,880 per year into a Junior SIPP. In addition, the pension will attract an additional £720 in tax relief.

Boost your state pension– top up any shortfall in your National Insurance contributions. Normally you have to do this within six years of the end of the tax year for which the contributions are being paid.

Investments

Use your annual ISA allowance– You can save/invest up to £20,000 is ISAs. All income, interest or capital gains are tax-free too.

Utilise your Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowance– you may want to consider selling enough of your units or shares to use the current tax year capital gains tax allowance of £12,300.

Pay money into your child’s Junior ISA – up to the maximum of £9,000for the 2021/22 tax year. Unused allowances are lost and can’t be carried over to the new tax year.

Consider tax incentivised investments – such as Venture Capital Trusts (VCT’s) or Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) etc, which attract generous tax reliefs and also tax year sensitive. These investments are only suitable for sophisticated investors, always seek independent financial advice before investing.

Tax

Consider disposing of any capital losses– to offset against capital gains made elsewhere which may be liable to capital gains tax. You can also carry forward excess capital losses but you must declare them on your tax return within four years.

Marriage tax allowance– if your spouse has unused tax allowance then you may be able to use it by moving assets into their name. If you have not claimed Marriage tax allowance before you can backdate your claim for up to 5 years, providing you qualified in each of those tax years.

Be generous and reduce your Inheritance Tax (IHT) bill– there are several annual IHT allowances which are tax year sensitive. By using them you can reduce any potential IHT bill payable by your estate.

 

Each tax year you can give away:

  • £3,000 – if you don’t make full use of your exemption in one year you can carry it forward to the next year, for one year only.
  • Up to £250 a person (but not in conjunction with any other inheritance tax allowance).
  • £5,000 to a child who is getting married and £2,500 to a grandchild or great-grandchild getting married.
  • Regular gifts from income which are IHT free. Size is irrelevant as long you can maintain your normal lifestyle after making them. But grandparents could use these to fund a pension for a grandchild which is obviously tax year sensitive.

We hope you find this checklist helpful, should you wish to discuss your allowances in more detail, please do not hesitate to speak to a member of our team.

Call us on 01206 321 045 or email: [email protected]