00:00the end of the personal tax year is fast approaching on the 5th of april 2025 which
00:05means you only have a handful of days left to take action to protect your money and maximize
00:10your tax allowances before everything resets for the next personal tax year in this video i cover
00:16six key things to do by the 5th of april so you don't lose out on your tax allowances and for
00:21some people this could help save you thousands of pounds if you're new to this channel i'm matt i've
00:26been a finance consultant for over 10 years and on this channel i talk all things personal finance
00:32so let's get straight into the video and start with the first topic which is isis currently every tax
00:37year each adult in the uk is able to put up to 20 000 pounds per year into isis and your money can
00:44then grow tax-free in those accounts there are different types of isa accounts that you can take
00:48advantage of which include a stocks and shares isa which is where you can invest in funds bonds
00:53and shares and any dividend income or capital gains that you get from disposing of shares which
00:59have increased in value is protected from tax in the isa account utilizing a cash isa is another
01:05option which is similar to a standard savings account you can get easy access cash isis which
01:10is where you can access your money whenever you want or you can get fixed rate cash isis which is
01:15where your money is locked away for a set period of time and it usually pays a higher interest rate on
01:21your savings the interest you earn on your savings can grow tax-free in a cash isa there is some
01:26speculation at the moment that the uk government could slash the amount that you can put each year
01:31into a cash isa to four thousand pounds so if with the current stock market volatility that we're
01:37seeing you're thinking about putting savings into a cash isa it could be worth thinking about how you
01:42can maximize your savings in this personal tax year another option is a lifetime isa these accounts
01:49are used for saving towards a first home or retirement you can only put up to four thousand
01:54pounds per year into these accounts so they're slightly different to the current cash isa and
01:59stocks and shares isa the benefit of this account is that the uk government adds a 25 bonus so if you
02:06can save four thousand pounds in a year you would get one thousand pounds free from the government i've
02:11got another video on my channel which covers the pros and cons of lifetime isis which i'll leave a link to
02:17down below you can pay into all the different types of isa accounts but the key thing is you can't
02:22exceed the twenty thousand pound per year threshold what is really important here is that your allowance
02:27resets every personal tax year so it's use it or lose it after the 5th of april you can't get back
02:34your allowance from a previous tax year as it doesn't roll over for most people i fully understand that
02:40twenty thousand pounds is a lot of money and i don't want to sound out of touch but even if you're
02:45nowhere near the threshold it's worth considering if you have any cash in a general savings account
02:51moving it to a cash isa or if you have any investments in a general investment account
02:55moving it to a stocks and shares isa so you can protect any future gains that you make against tax
03:01the next tax allowance to cover is on capital gains each personal tax year you get a three thousand
03:07pound capital gains tax free allowance for disposing of investments and assets for example crypto assets
03:13or stocks and shares outside an isa last year the capital gains tax rates were increased for the
03:19basic rate taxpayer it increased from ten percent to eighteen percent and for the higher rate and
03:24additional rate taxpayer increased from twenty percent to twenty four percent so you'd have to pay
03:29this tax for any gains above three thousand pounds if you're thinking about selling assets in the
03:34short term it's worth considering whether it makes sense to dispose of some of your assets prior to
03:39the fifth of april to use your three thousand pound capital gains tax allowance in this personal tax
03:45year and then disposing of additional assets after the sixth of april to use your three thousand pound
03:50tax allowance in the next personal tax year for example if you wanted to sell some cryptocurrency
03:55which had increased in value and the total gain was six thousand pounds if you sold and realized all
04:02of that game prior to the fifth of april you would have to pay five hundred and forty pounds if you're a
04:07basic tax rate payer and seven hundred and twenty pounds if you're a higher rate taxpayer whereas if
04:12you sold and realized the gain of three thousand pounds prior to the fifth of april and a further
04:17three thousand pounds after the sixth of april then no capital gains tax would be due as it would be
04:23within your tax allowances for each personal tax year another thing to consider is utilizing the spouse
04:29allowance if you live with a spouse or civil partner you can transfer assets to them on a no win no gain
04:35basis for example you could transfer crypto assets to them that give rise to a three thousand pound gain
04:42and when they receive the crypto assets tax-free they could sell it and use all of their capital
04:47gains tax-free allowance and you could do the same so that combined you have six thousand pounds of gains
04:53sheltered from tax each tax year the key thing is to make sure that you transfer the assets before you
04:59sell it and realize any gains the third tax allowance to consider is for dividend income and savings
05:05interest outside an iso each tax year you get a savings allowance meaning that you can earn up to
05:11one thousand pounds of interest tax-free if you're a basic rate taxpayer five hundred pounds of interest
05:16tax-free if you're a higher rate taxpayer and zero if you're in the additional rate tax band it may seem
05:22like a lot of interest to be earning but it can catch you out particularly as interest rates on savings
05:28have been a bit higher over the last couple of years if for example you had twenty thousand pounds in
05:33savings at a five percent interest then you would earn one thousand pounds and if you're a higher rate
05:38taxpayer then you'd be liable to pay tax on 500 pounds so that would be quite a bit of money lost to
05:44tax so again it's worth thinking about putting your money in iso's in this situation separate from this
05:50you also get a dividend income tax-free allowance of 500 pounds per year the tax on dividend income above
05:57this outside an iso or pension is 8.75 for basic tax rate pairs 33.75 for higher rate taxpayers and 39.35
06:09for the additional rate taxpayers so if you're earning over 500 pounds per year in dividend income
06:15consider moving these investments into an iso to protect any future income you get from tax the fourth
06:21tax allowance is for pension contributions the tax considerations for pensions can be complex but
06:27i'll cover some of the basic points to understand each tax year you're allowed to contribute into a
06:32pension up to 60 000 pounds or up to a hundred percent of your income whichever is the lower amount
06:39this threshold includes a basic rate of tax relief meaning that between you and your employer you can
06:44contribute up to 48 000 pounds with tax relief up to 12 000 pounds being added on top by hmrc now i know
06:52for most people it won't be possible to get anywhere near this amount and do note that for very high
06:58earners they get a lower annual allowance which you can see on the hmrc website another pension related
07:04tax allowance to consider is paying into your partner's pension if they're a non-earner for example
07:10if they're off work caring for children or elderly family members you can pay up to 2880 pounds per year
07:17into your partner's pension and then they receive 20 tax relief so 720 pounds topping up the total
07:24amount to 3600 pounds one thing to know if you're a higher rate taxpayer is that it may be more efficient
07:31to pay into your own pension because you get the higher rate tax relief the fifth tax allowance to
07:36consider is if you have children you can contribute up to 9 000 pounds per year into an iso for your child
07:43between the ages of 0 and 18 years old there are junior stocks and shares isis or junior cash isis
07:50and this contribution is separate from your own personal 20 000 pound per year isa tax allowance how
07:57it works is that parents open and manage an account and your child gets access to the account and is able
08:03to withdraw funds from when they turn 18 years old even contributing small amounts regularly can grow into
08:10significant savings over time as your investments benefit from the power of compound interest it can
08:16build into a brilliant financial safety net whether it's used for education towards a first home or even
08:22to pay for a future wedding another child related tax allowance is for junior sips each tax year you can
08:29pay up to three thousand six hundred pounds into a junior pension this includes any tax relief from the
08:35government so that means that you could pay up to two thousand eight hundred and eighty pounds per year
08:41and the government would add up to 720 pounds on top anyone can pay into a child's pension so for example
08:48a grandparent might decide that they want to save for their grandchild's future the sixth and final
08:53topic is national insurance you currently have the chance to plug gaps in your ni record going back to
08:592006 but after this tax year you'll only be able to go back by six years this could make a real difference
09:07to the amount that you receive from your state pension in retirement the full new state pension is
09:12221 pounds and 20 pence per week however how much you receive depends on how many qualifying full national
09:20insurance years you have 10 qualifying years are required to be eligible for the new state pension
09:25and typically 35 qualifying years are needed for the full amount for people between 10 and 35
09:32qualifying years they'll receive an apportioned amount based on their contribution history so making
09:38top-ups now to fill the gaps before the deadline could be the equivalent to thousands in extra income
09:44over your retirement if you want to do this you can view your ni record on the gov.uk website so that
09:50wraps up six key things to do by the 5th of april to protect your money and maximize your tax allowances
09:57before everything resets for the next personal tax year this video is for educational purposes and is
10:03not tax advice if you found the video helpful please do subscribe to my channel give the video a like
10:09and i'll see you on the next video
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