According to unbiased.co.uk British taxpayers will waste over £10bn in unnecessary tax in 2009. With the end of the tax year nigh, time is rapidly running out if you want to curb your tax bill and maximise allowances.
So what should you be doing if you want to take advantage of tax regulations and save a few bob?
ISAs
Now ten years old ISAs allow people to keep cash as well as assets such as property, stocks and shares in a tax-free wrapper. Up to £7200 can be invested every year, with up to £3600 of the full amount in cash. Although interest rates are at an all time low, good offers are still available in the competitive savings market. If you are thinking of maximising your ISA allowance then you better move very quickly as applications will probably need to be in by Friday at the latest.
Pension Contributions
Each year, UK residents under age 75 can pay in pension contributions equal 100 per cent of earnings, subject to a maximum of £235,000, or £3,600 for non-earners. If you don’t use it you lose it.
If you are within a year of retiring then you can pay in as much as you want, however if you exceed your lifetime allowance of 1.65 million then you will be subject to a healthy tax on the excess.
One very important change taking place in the pension world is that the cost of buying back missed National Insurance contributions will rise on April 6th 2009 so people with missing years might want to buy them now.
Women who have less than ten qualifying years of N.I. contributions do not qualify for a basic state pension but as soon as they reach ten years they are entitled to 26% of the full basic state pension.
The cost of buying back this one year (assuming you already have nine qualifying years) has been calculated at £421.20.
If you were to buy a pension of £23.58 a week on the open market it would cost you £35,240 (for 60 year old woman, single life). This represents a staggering return on investment of up to 8,300%. The price of buying back is set to jump by some 50% in the new tax year.
Inheritance Tax (IHT)
Each person is allowed to give away £3000 a year and this will not count towards your total estate. You can carry this over but for one year only. In addition, gifts of up to £250 a person (small gifts exemption) are also exempt from IHT but you cannot use the two together. If a gift is regular, comes out of your income and does not affect your standard of living, then any amount can be given away and ignored for IHT purposes.
Income Tax
You are allowed to make a gift to your spouse. You can make use of his or her personal allowance, of £6,035, and a basic/lower rate band, £34,800, for 2008/09.
Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs)
With these investment vehicles, income tax is available at a rate of 30% up to an annual limit of £200,000 for subscriptions for shares in a VCT as long as you hold them for 5 years. This is a quoted company holding at least 70% of it’s investments in shares or securities in qualifying unquoted companies trading wholly or mainly in the UK.
These are just a few suggestions as we come up to April 5th. As ever you should seek expert advice before making any decisions. Call me on 0800 321 3508. Good luck paying less tax… legitimately of course!
