-
Cutting Tax: Discussions that will help you
To help you find the Cutting Tax threads quicker and easier we're collating our previous sticky/pinned threads into one single post. Cutting Tax board: Tax instructions - please read Useful Websites TaxCalc alternative? How does the Taxman Know? Inheritance Tax Planning Useful Tools to Help With Taxes Washing Uniform at…
-
Another Gifting from Income question
Good evening everyone. We are already gifting regularly from income and understand the records to be kept. I have a specific question. We do have significant cash savings which we use to pay for our extravagant luxury holidays. To put that in perspective think equivalent to 2 months income. Do we have to enter this expense…
-
Self assessment
Hello - my wife is unemployed but received a letter in the post a while back saying she needed to complete a self assessment form. I don't know exactly why but it might be that she's marginally strayed over the personal allowance due to savings interest. I've this evening gone in to register her for self assessment but…
-
Stop making SIPP contributions?
I need a sense check, please. I'm recently retired (just £1k-£2k earned income for another couple of years) and SP starts in two years. For years I have maxed SIPP contributions and now have about £660k in it. I want to run down my SIPP in future years (withdrawing the max in basic rate, using it for income/ISA/low coupon…
-
Declaring expected interest and dividends to HMRC for the current year
For context, I'm a retiree paying basic rate tax on my pensions, savings interest and dividends via self-assessment. In a previous thread, I was trying to work out why HMRC had just increased the tax code on my occupational pension for 2026/27 (i.e. reducing the PAYE tax paid each month). If I had just accepted it, I would…
-
CGT on a long term investment
I have an OEIC from way back which has increased substantially due to reinvestment (scrip) so, as a whole, is subject to a large amount of capital gains tax. However, if I were to sell the more recent, automatic, investments the difference in value between acquisition and sale would presumably be much lower. Is there a way…
-
Trading account and Capital Gains Tax
I think I've been an idiot. I have a trading account in which I invested some money by buying units in a couple of funds. Last year I decided to switch to a couple of different funds. So I sold all the units and then used the proceeds to buy units in the new funds (I did not withdraw anything). Even though I did not…
-
Inheritance Tax and Trust
Good Afternoon all! I appreciate fully and am not trying to get advice on here but guidance on whether I am quite frankly wrong. My parents have a house about 800,000 and savings of up to 500,000 The house has been put in a trust between myself and my sister and them. Recently I have had concerns that this is not the best…
-
HMRC over allocated marriage allowance resulting in underpaid tac
I have been receiving the transfer of my wife's personal allowance under the marriage allowance scheme for several years now with no issue. However I retired in August 2024 and received a P800 for tax year 2023-2024 stating I owed £518 in under paid tax, explanation -Marriage Allowance You were given more Marriage…
-
Tax Code reduction upon retiring?
I retired mid-June this year as a basic rate (20%) tax payer with the default code 1257L, £12,570 personal tax allowance. I claimed a modest work pension from the next day. Having worked only 2.5 months of this tax year, I had expected that most of that annual allowance would be available for my small pension, meaning…
-
Cgt on rentals
hi all 1- I have 2 rental properties, 1 in joint names with my wife and 1 in my name 2- would I have to put her on the mortgage? to be able to split the cgt or is there a easier way to do this, as she’s over 70 and they might not except her. Could we just start her declaring as getting 50% of the rental and when the time…
-
Paying tax after self assessment calculation
When paying additional tax after self assessment direct to HMRC can you pay a small initial amount just to check the acount details have been entered correctly. That way if there's an error, it's only a small amount. Then send the balance owed. I normally do this for any new BACS payment for my own peace of mind and…
-
Gifts in consideration of marriage
According to the HMRC Inheritance Tax Manual, the gift must be made ‘on or shortly before a marriage’. See https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm14191 What qualifies as ‘shortly before’? Our daughter is getting married in November and she could really do with these funds now. Is this allowable…
-
Taking extra pension to allow gifting from income
I am 74. I have DB pensions that together with the State pension total about 42k. I also have a SIPP which I have taken the 25% tax free cash from already. I am debating taking a monthly, large amount from the SIPP (as income) to allow me to gift it to my children as gifts from excess income - so free of IHT. The main…
-
How long do tax code changes take?
About 2 weeks ago I updated my 2025/26 interest in my HMRC account as it was £700 more than the previous year and I would prefer to spread the tax over more of the year instead of the last few months as normally happens. I'm just curious as to how long it takes them to update your tax code? You would have thought, in this…
-
Emergency Tax
I am 60 and was made redundant in December 2025. I used my redundancy plus I activated two small final salary pensions and took a tax free lump sum plus £10,000 from a third (defined contribution) pension so I could pay off my mortgage with all the tax free lump sums combined. I activated these at the end of April (in new…
-
HMRC and the starting rate of tax confusion
starting rate conundrum: for 25/56 Tax year. My annual work pension is £7135. No state pension. I have savings with interest of £9800p/a. My GoSimpleTax software tells me I have no Tax to pay. MSE says I have no tax to pay. ChatGPT and Gemini say I have no tax to pay. But HMRC are not sure and have started to tax me and in…
-
Company Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme
Hi, I am considering joining my company car sacrifice scheme but am a little confused about the value of it to me as higher rate tax payer. I have been hit the last couple of years on tax as my salary with bonus and car allowance has hit around £115k (I’m not complaining as I believe that if you earn it you have to pay…
-
Personal Allowance and Pension Tax Calculator
Hi! My salary is currently £100,000 and I have the potential to earn ~25% bonus annually, paid out in March. This is variable depending on performance / business results but is typically around £25,000. I completed a self-assessment for 2021/2022 in December 2022 and had an overpayment of £2800 which I'm repaying over 12…
-
Strange taxcode increase for pension and giftaid relief
As a retiree paying tax at basic rate, I give some giftaid and make a small SIPP contribution each year to avoid going into higher rate band. I just got a new taxcode on my main pension that increases the net monthly payment by £250pm - i.e. it will decrease the tax paid by about £2500 over the rest of the year. This makes…
-
Fiscal drag and trying to reduce tax liability
70 years old - looking at 25/26 Tax Pension income (including SP) = £53220 Untaxed savings interest = £3600 Annual charity contributions (Gift Aid) £600 a) Am I able to pay into a new pension scheme in order to get back down to Basic rate taxpayer status? If so, how much? Or b). How much would I have to GiftAid to Charity…
