That was the week that was…

In spite of rumours in the press over recent weeks the Budget on Monday held almost nothing to excite savers and investors. Pension legislation and tax relief on contributions, which many feared would be targeted, was left alone. Manifesto commitments to increase personal allowance and threshold for paying higher rate tax will be brought forward to 6 April 2019. Here are our Top Tax Tips for your consideration.

1. Don’t waste your (or your partner’s) £12,500 personal allowance in 2019/20.


2. Don’t forget the personal savings allowance, reducing tax on interest earned.


3. Don’t ignore National Insurance contributions – they are really a tax at up to 25.8%.


4. Think marginal tax rates – the system now creates 60% (and higher) marginal rates.


5. ISAs should normally be your first port of call for investments and then deposits.


6. Remember the Help to Buy ISA is withdrawn for new investors from December 2019.


7. Even if you’re eligible for a LISA, you still might find a pension is a better choice.


8. Tax on capital gains is usually lower and paid later than tax on investment income.


9. Trusts can save inheritance tax, but suffer the highest rates of CGT and income.

Market Update

Stock markets have bounced this week after what was a volatile October for investors. There’s no obvious catalyst to what’s been driving the move higher over the last few days, however, market commentators are chalking this down to attractive entry levels. In addition to this, further developments this morning (Friday 2 November) raised hopes for a dialling down in trade tensions, after Donald Trump tweeted the discussions with China were moving along nicely. As expected the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at 0.75% on Thursday in a unanimous decision by all members. In Brexit news, there are unconfirmed reports that the UK has struck a deal with the EU on post-Brexit financial services – which is clearly excellent news and removes a level of uncertainty and has helped sterling recover towards the end of this week.

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