Your tax year-end checklist

Get ready for the tax year end with our comprehensive checklist outlining key considerations and tasks to help you stay on top of your finances.

Stay ahead of the game and maximise your tax planning with our expert tips.

Your ISA allowances

• Ensure you maximise your ISA allowance for the 2023-24 tax year by investing up to the full £20,000 limit.
• Confirm that your spouse or partner has also taken full advantage of their ISA allowance, potentially allowing for a combined tax-efficient investment of up to £40,000.
• Consider contributing up to £9,000 per child or grandchild into Junior ISAs as a tax-efficient method of passing wealth to the next generation. While a parent or guardian must establish the Junior ISA, contributions can be made by anyone.

Your Pension Contributions

• If you are increasing your pension contributions, take a moment to assess if you can maximize your annual allowance. Pensions are a really effective way of saving for retirement because of the tax relief you get on pension contributions.
• Explore the option of carrying forward any unused allowances from the previous three tax years. It is advisable to review your contribution history from 2020/21 onwards to ensure you have utilized your full allowances. With tax changes coming into effect in April, fully utilizing tax-efficient wrappers such as ISAs and pensions becomes even more crucial.
• The recent cut to national insurance (NI) contributions may have resulted in a small, albeit welcome, increase in your take-home pay. But if you don’t need the extra cash, why not consider using it to boost your pension? If you’re self-employed, you’ll need to wait until the new tax year for NI cuts to be implemented.

Don’t get caught out by tax

• Take advantage of your annual Capital Gains Tax (CGT) exemption. After 5 April, your CGT exemption will drop from £6,000 to £3,000.
• Are you coming up to retirement and thinking of making a large pension withdrawal? Talk to your Ascot Lloyd adviser about spreading the withdrawal over two or more tax years. This will minimise your Income Tax liability.
• If you’re a high earner, you may be able to bring your taxable income down by putting more money in your pension or making charitable donations. This can bring your income down below the additional rate tax band and help you hold on to your Personal Allowance and/or claiming Child Benefits.

Inheritance Tax allowances

• With the basic Inheritance Tax (IHT) threshold now frozen at £325,000 until 2028 it’s expected that many more people will be caught out by IHT over the coming years, as estate values rise, supported by increased property prices over many years and/or investment return. Use this tax year-end opportunity to gift up to £3,000 this year. This will mean that it isn’t included in the value of your estate, and so won’t be liable for Inheritance Tax.

Business owners

• If you own a business, consider taking dividend income instead of salary. In this tax year the first £1,000 of dividend income is tax free but from 6 April 2024 it will be halved again to £500.

It’s not too late to take full advantage of the reliefs and allowances available to you before the end of this tax year on 5 April. Speak to your adviser who will be able to help you.