End of the tax year checklist

Make more of your money with your adviser, before the end of the 2021/2022 tax year on 5 April 2022.

As the end of the tax year approaches, there’s still time to take advantage of your annual tax-free allowances if you’ve not already done so. This is one of the best ways to make your money work harder and grow, especially with interest rates on the rise. We can guide you through the best ways to use your allowances – depending on your needs.

ISAs
The maximum you can invest across your ISAs (if it’s a cash ISA, stocks and shares ISA or innovative finance ISA) is £20,000. For a lifetime ISA the annual allowance is £4,000.

Pension allowance
Your personal pension contribution allowance is £40,000, although it can be lower for higher earners and where pension savings have been flexibly accessed already. Any contributions you (or your employer) make receive tax relief from the government (based on your income tax band) of 20% or more – and the money in your pension pot will grow tax free.

Gift allowances
A financial gift is a great way of using tax-free allowances for any extra cash, and your adviser will be able to talk you through the options available, which could include:

Junior ISAs
If you’re looking to put some cash aside for your children, Junior ISAs (JISAs) are a great option. In the current tax year you can save or invest up to £9,000 in a JISA. You can save for your child in a cash JISA, a stocks and shares JISA or a combination of the two.

Child’s pension
A child’s pension can be set up by a parent or guardian, but anyone can contribute. You can pay up to £2,880 in the current tax year into a pension on behalf of a child and the government automatically tops this up with 20% tax relief on the total amount contributed, taking the figure up to £3,600.

Cash gifts
Making a cash gift can help a loved one (and help with your estate planning). Everyone has an annual gifting limit of £3,000 that is exempt from inheritance tax (IHT). This is known as your annual exemption. If you fail to use it one year, you can carry it over to the next tax year (so if you didn’t use the gift last year you could give away £6,000).

It’s worth remembering that any gift you give, even to family members, could be subject to capital gains tax (CGT). CGT is the tax you pay on any profit or gain you make when you dispose of an asset, such as a second home or shares. If you gift an asset and it has risen in value compared to what you have paid for it, you could be liable to CGT. The current CGT allowance is £12,300. This is the amount of profit you can make before CGT is applied.

Marriage allowance
If you are married you might be able to take advantage of the marriage tax allowance. It allows one half of a couple who earns less than the income tax threshold (£12,570) to transfer up to £1,260 to their higher-earning spouse (who must be a basic rate taxpayer).

Our financial advisers can help you make the most of your annual allowances and lay out what is available to you, before the end of the tax year.

The value of investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise and you may not get back the original amount invested.