Ellis Bates Financial Advisers
As expert financial advisers we are here to make the complex straight forward. We work with you to ensure you maximise all tax relief available and to look at all your current and future finances to mitigate a whole range of liabilities including inheritance tax, income tax and capital gains tax.
The UK tax system is notoriously complex, but the benefits of structuring your finances tax efficiently can be significant. It is important to keep up with any changes that could affect your tax position now and in the future.
Pension contributions can reduce your liability by increasing the tax thresholds. Tax relief is available on the full annual allowance which for 2023/24 is £60,000 or 100% of your salary, whichever is greater.
If you pay pension contributions out of your salary, both you and your employer have to pay National Insurance Contributions (NICs) on that salary. When your employer pays a contribution directly into your pension scheme, the employer receives tax relief for the contribution and there are no NICs to pay – a saving for both you and your employer.
The lifetime allowance is the limit on how much you can build up in pension benefits over your lifetime while still enjoying the full tax benefits. However, it was announced in the Spring Budget 2023 that this will be removed from April 2023 before it is abolished entirely from April 2024.
You can put the entire amount into a Cash ISA, a Stocks & Shares ISA, an Innovative Finance ISA or any combination of the three. Usually when you invest, you have to pay tax on any income or capital gains you earn from your investments. But with an ISA, provided you stick to the rules on how much you can pay in, all capital gains and income made from your investments won’t be taxed. Every year you have an ISA allowance, which is currently £20,000 for the 2021/22 tax year.
If you realise capital gains and losses in the same tax year, the losses are offset against the gains before the capital gains tax exempt amount (£12,300 in 2021/22) is deducted. Capital losses will be wasted if gains would otherwise be covered by your exempt amount. Consider postponing a sale that will generate a loss until the following tax year or, alternatively, realise more gains in the current year.
It’s important to check your tax code as it is based on the amount of income tax you should be paying and the amount you can earn before tax applies.
Inheritance tax is chargeable at 40% on any assets above £325,000 (up to £500,000 if the Residence Nil-Rate Band is available) so understanding how to manage your estate which is made up of your pensions, property, savings, investments etc as tax-efficiently as possible is vital.
Estate planning requires expert financial knowledge and we are here to help you ensure your inheritance tax planning and tax relief measures are in place for you and your family.
As long as you establish a pattern of gifts that can be shown to be covered by your net income, without reducing either your capital assets or your normal standard of living, these gifts will be free of inheritance tax. The recipients of the gifts need not be the same people each year.
“We are delighted with the results and peace of mind Hannah Robinson has provided us with. As a result of her guidance and expertise, we have been able to retire early and maintain our standard of living. Hannah helped explain the variety of options available to us and established a tax-efficient drawdown with flexibility of further lump sums should we need them. We continue to be impressed with the returns on our investment and with the ongoing support and reassurance Hannah offers. Thankyou, Ellis Bates!”
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