There is no Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to pay when you sell shares or units held in an Isa. For more details, see ‘savings and investment taxes’.
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Use Junior Isas to avoid being taxed on gifts you make to your own children. See Junior ISA’s for more information.
Transfer savings and investments to your husband, wife or civil partner if they pay a lower rate of tax than you do. See our guide to tax and your partner for more information.
The dividend allowance was reduced from 6 April 2018 - but you can still save on investment income. For 2018-19, you can earn £2,000 in dividend income without paying tax. See the Dividend Tax Guide for more information
Make sure you stop making National Insurance contributions if you carry on working beyond state retirement age, this is currently 63 for women and 65 for men. Watch this space as the retirement age is expected to increase to 67 in 2026!
Lifetime gifts are not normally counted as part of your estate for inheritance-tax purposes if you live for a further seven years after making them.
Known as potentially exempt transfers (PET’s), they can reduce your residual estate significantly.
Most gifts you make to other people during your lifetime (unless they fall into the list of tax-free gifts) are classified as ‘potentially exempt transfers’ or PETs for short.
If you survive for seven years after making the gift, no inheritance tax is due. However, if you die within this time, the gift will be added to your estate, and reassessed against other PETs you have given and your tax-free allowance.
If the seven-year running total of PETs, chargeable gifts and your estate comes to less than the unused tax-free allowance, no tax will be due.
However, if much of the tax-free allowance has been used up against PETs and taxable lifetime gifts, this can leave little or no allowance to be used against the rest of the estate.
Everyone has a tax-free allowance of £325,000 on their estate before inheritance due is due. If you don't reach this threshold including the PET also, then you won't need to pay the tax.
Making donations to charity is tax free. Either yourself or the charity can claim the tax back through Gift Aid. If you pay higher or additional-rate tax, you can also claim back the difference between the basic and higher rate of income tax on any Gift Aid donations.
To do this you need to claim through your self-assessment tax return or ask HMRC to adjust your tax code. You will need to do this by calling them and requesting a P810 form.
You must keep records showing the date and amount you have donated.
If you are a commuter you can check to see if your employer will give you a tax-free loan to buy your season ticket.
If you are an employee and pay for childcare, ask your employer if they have a childcare scheme. Salary sacrifice childcare schemes are easy to establish and can result in substantial savings for both employees and employers. See the Salary Sacrifice section for more information on this subject.
If you are entitled to a company car it may be worth considering whether it would be more tax-efficient to take a cash equivalent in pay instead.
If you are changing your company car it’s probably wise to consider a low-emissions model. These are now taxed at a lower percentage of their list price than cars with a high CO2 rating. The government are pushing for lower emissions cars which will certainly play a part in making a choice in the near future.