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Description |
Relevant to |
Possible action |
| 1 |
Director/shareholders of owner managed businesses should review their remuneration package in advance of the new tax year to ensure that it is as tax efficient as possible |
Director/ shareholders |
Consider paying a combination of low salary, high interest and dividends. This could result in tax free income of up to £19,070 in 2024/25 (£19,570 in 2023/24) and double that for couples, if structured correctly and depending on the specific circumstances of the individual. |
| 2 |
The tax free dividend allowance is set to reduce from £1,000 to £500 from 6 April 2024 |
Director/ shareholders |
Where possible ensure that dividend allowances have been fully utilised by 5 April 2024. Spouse planning could also be considered (if they are not already a shareholder) to double the available tax free allowances. |
| 3 |
The personal allowance is reduced by £1 for every £2 of net income over £100,000, meaning that those with income of between £100,000 and £125,140 could have a marginal tax rate as high as 60%. |
High earners |
If your income is within this threshold, you could consider ways to reduce your taxable income, such as making pension contributions, charitable donations, deferring income into 2024/25 or transferring income producing assets to your spouse. |
| 4 |
The personal savings allowance allows the first £1,000 of savings income to be paid tax free to basic rate taxpayers. This drops to £500 for higher rate taxpayers and nil for additional rate taxpayers. |
Savers |
If you are a director and have loaned money to the company you could consider paying a commercial rate of interest on the loan to utilise this allowance. Note, however, that the company would need to deduct basic rate tax and submit a CT61 form to HMRC. If you are a higher/additional rate taxpayer and you receive large amounts of interest, you could consider transferring savings held in your own name to your spouse |
| 5 |
If yours or your spouse’s taxable income exceeds
£50,000 for the tax year, this could lead to a claw back of child benefit under the high-income child benefit charge. Once taxable income reaches £60,000 the benefit will be lost in full. |
Parents |
Reducing, deferring or transferring taxable income as described for higher earners above could help to preserve this benefit. |
| 6 |
Up to £1,260 of your personal allowance can be
transferred to a spouse or civil partner if neither of you are higher rate taxpayers, by virtue of the marriage allowance. |
Spouses |
A transfer of allowance claim is easy to make and can be of benefit where one spouse has income of less than the personal allowance (currently frozen at £12,570), with a tax saving of up to £252 per annum. |
| 7 |
Mortgage interest relief for landlords is restricted to the basic rate of tax, which can result in significant effective tax rates for some landlords, particularly higher earners. |
Investment property owners |
A review of your operating structure could be undertaken to see if the arrangements can be made more tax efficient. This could include incorporation, spousal transfers or use of partnerships. |
| 8 |
There are various Government backed investment
platforms, such as enterprise investment scheme (EIS), seed enterprise investment scheme (SEIS) and venture capital trusts (VCT), which give the incentive of income tax relief in exchange for the underlying investment carrying a varying degree of commercial risk. |
Investors |
If you have any surplus cash, you could look to make a tax efficient investment |
| 9 |
The capital gains tax annual exemption for all individuals is £6,000 for 2023/24 but reducing to £3,000 for 2024/25. Any unused exemption is lost. |
Investors |
Consideration should be given to the transfer of assets between spouses such that both utilise their annual exemptions on a subsequent disposal. Claiming/crystalising capital losses could also help to offset future gains with the reducing allowances. |
| 10 |
The annual allowance for pension contributions is £60,000 for 2023/24. This is reduced, however, proportionately for individuals with adjusted income above £260,000 by £1 for every £2 above this threshold down to a minimum limit of £10,000. This reduction also only applies where your ‘threshold income’ (broadly taxable income) is also over £200,000. |
High earners |
You could consider utilising your pensions allowance wherever possible as well as any unused allowances from the prior three tax years. |