Our 5-minute read – Tax Tips – for UK doctors and dentists will help you save tax, get organised with your tax affairs and make sure you meet important deadlines with ease.
This article does not constitute advice. Professional advice should be taken prior to acting on any part of it. The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax advice.
Since the Autumn budget was deferred, the new date for the budget is set for 11 March this year. As it’s the first Budget after an election, history, and the Institute of Fiscal studies both suggest that it could contain some less than desirable measures. So, it’s best to take advantage of the time you have left to plan accordingly.
It’s hard to believe there is less than three months left in this tax year. As always, the start of a new quarter is a great time to re-evaluate your financial situation and make any changes necessary, but it’s especially important to maximise savings at the end of the year.
Here are a few things you should be doing to ensure you close out the tax year financially fit.
Ramp up pension contributions
The Pension Lifetime Allowance is currently set at £1.25m, so be sure to save as much money as possible into your personal pension plan and reap the tax relief.
Between person, workplace, and NHS pensions, the options are plentiful. If you haven’t been contributing regularly — or even if you have — now’s the time to ramp it up and ensure you have a plan in place to save your maximum for the year. With the new budget, it’s a possibility relief would be restricted to a flat rate, which is not ideal for higher rate taxpayers.
Max out your ISAs
Make sure you’ll be using your full tax-free ISA allowance of £20,000 for the 2019/20 tax year.
If you’re falling short of your savings goal some careful financial planning should help get you back on track and remember that you can split your allowance between the various ISA types.
With previous talks of capping ISA contributions and ISAs now costing HMRC over £3bn in lost income tax, those conversations may reappear.
Other ways to save
While pension and ISA contributions are the major ways to maximise savings and tax relief, there are others — charitable donations, capital expenditure in business, and ensuring maximum business expenditure are all great avenues to explore when tax planning.
Work with an expert
If you’re too busy to plan by yourself or if you need help at all, working with a financial adviser is the way to go. They can introduce you to any tax-saving schemes you might not know of, and provide guidance on the rest of your financial planning needs.
At Dental and Medical Financial Services, we’re committed to helping you to make full use of your tax allowances to reduce your tax bill, so don’t hesitate to schedule time with an adviser who can discuss all your financial planning needs.