Personal Savings Allowance guide

eskbanker

To a certain extent we're all hypothesising and speculating in the absence of information about exactly which institutions are considered problematic, as some of us don't seem to have an issue with this while others do - does anyone have specific examples of banks that don't provide adequate support for identifying interest paid over a tax year in a reasonably straightforward way?

Not trying to be argumentative here, but it may be that there are tips and tricks not known to some?

polymaff

I'll kick off with:

Skipton BS: Off their own bat, sent out, mid-April, a "savings account annual statement" for year beginning 1st April. When queried, said they had no other form of annual statement and sent a list of interest transactions for year beginning 19th April. After further pressure, eventually sent a "Statement of Gross Interest" letter sub-headed "Year to 5th April 2017", laid out like the old s975 and containing THE desired figure.

Doc_N

Microsoft Money (or equivalent) - absolutely invaluable for tracking interest/dividend etc payments.

schiff

I use a spread sheet for each tax year logging dates and amounts credited. Apart from being perfect for the required task it also satisfies my inner Silas Marner

Frogletina

I use the budgeting app Ynab and every time I get an interest payment I add it as income using the correct tax year - so from 6th April this year, I've noted this as 'interest tax year 17-18'.

I currently have 44 accounts which comprise of current, savings and regular savings accounts, and I know when each one pays out interest. These are set up as scheduled payments on my app, with a nil balance until I've checked what payment has been made.

I use Ewise to easily check the payments and balances on my online accounts - I also have 5 virgin branch accounts which I update at the local branch from time to time.

Now all I have to do is wait for documentation to show me what HMRC think my interest has been.

frogletina

polymaff

All so time-intensive, error-prone and all not as valuable against challenged tax returns as whatever you want to call the financial year summary that used to be known as s975.

Or perhaps you do both. That's real MSE

coyrls

Frogletina wrote: »

I currently have 44 accounts which comprise of current, savings and regular savings accounts

Sorry, I have to ask, why have you got 44 accounts?

TheShape

coyrls wrote: »

Sorry, I have to ask, why have you got 44 accounts?

That number of accounts just seems normal to me now I've spent some time on this forum. I have a not dissimilar number myself. Multiple current accounts earning interest or qualifying for perks/rewards or access to regular savings accounts. I have a number of accounts that don't even contain more than a nominal £1 balance that are simply open ready to receive funds when other regular savings accounts mature.

Frogletina

coyrls wrote: »

Sorry, I have to ask, why have you got 44 accounts?

TheShape wrote: »

That number of accounts just seems normal to me now I've spent some time on this forum. I have a not dissimilar number myself. Multiple current accounts earning interest or qualifying for perks/rewards or access to regular savings accounts. I have a number of accounts that don't even contain more than a nominal £1 balance that are simply open ready to receive funds when other regular savings accounts mature.

Hi coyrls,

Yes, I do have that number of accounts for exactly the same reason that TheShape has said, including some with nominal balances as well.

I've 18 regular savers, however one has just matured so I may close that as it is only for 2%, but I may keep it going with a nominal £25 a month as it could be that there are no more virgin regular savers, or the rate could go down on them at which point I would increase the monthly payment on the 2% one.

frogletina

Doc_N

Same here - but without Microsoft Money keeping track of what's going on would be impossible!