Most of the UK taxes have exemptions and allowances that apply for each tax year. Many are increased in each year in the March budget. Almost none are transferrable from one tax year to another.
If you don’t utilise an allowance, in most cases it is lost forever.
This article lists some of the basic allowances you should check out with your professional advisor before 6 April 2016, when the new tax year begins. There may be ways to utilise an allowance even if there is no obvious way to do this.
All rates quoted are for 2015-16.
- Income tax personal allowance £10,600
- Marriage allowance £1,020 – you can transfer part of your personal allowance to your spouse or civil partner as long as their income is between £10,601 and £42,385.
- ISAs – the maximum you can save is £15,240.
- Junior NISA – the maximum you can save is £4,080.
- Pension annual allowance £40,000 – unused allowances in the past three tax years can also be utilised.
- Capital gains tax annual exempt amount £11,100
- Inheritance tax annual gifts allowance of £3,000. A previous year’s unused allowance can be claimed in the current year.
- Inheritance tax gifts on marriage or civil partnership. £5,000 if given to a child; £2,500 given to a grandchild or great-grandchild; £1,000 if given to anyone else.
These are by no means all the opportunities to make sure you utilise tax allowances in 2015-16. Readers are advised to consult with their professional advisors to ensure that they make the most of tax reliefs on offer.