|
1.
|
Claim in full your
personal allowances including (where appropriate)
- single person's allowance, age allowances etc., Also
claim in full your personal relief's including gift aid
payments, charitable covenants and payments into a personal
pension scheme. |
|
2.
|
If considering a company
car, it may be worth considering a car with a low
COČ emissions output as this could create a potentially
lower tax liability on the car benefit. |
|
3.
|
Employees not participating
in a company pension scheme should consider paying into
a personal pension contract, as contributions are
deductible from earnings up to the appropriate limit.
In addition, it may be possible to carry forward any unused
entitlement for up to six years, so that extra premiums
can be paid in highly taxed years. |
|
4.
|
Use your capital gains
annual exemption (i.e. for the year ended 5 April
2003 capital gains of £7,700 are tax free) by crystallising
a capital gain where appropriate. Capital gains tax is
payable at the individuals highest marginal rate of tax,
choosing when to crystallise a capital gain or loss can
result in significant tax savings. |
|
5.
|
Gifts between
husband and wife can generate the advantage of an additional
annual exemption. |
|
6.
|
Inheritance tax on
death can be reduced by means of timely gifts and
settlements. There is a £3,000 annual exemption
available to cover certain gifts, and the exemption can
be increased by an unused amount from the previous year.
Outright gifts of up to £250 each may be made to
any number of other individuals. There are also exemptions
available for marriage gifts. |
|
7.
|
VAT - To improve
cash flow consider adopting annual accounting, a retail
scheme or cash accounting. |
|
8.
|
Delaying the payment
of a bonus or commission into a new tax year will
delay the national insurance liability on that bonus for
up to one year. |
|
9.
|
For owner-managed
company's paying high Director's remuneration gives
rise to costly national insurance contributions, it may
therefore be beneficial to pay dividends instead. |
|
10.
|
School fees and other
costs of educating and maintaining children can be
undertaken tax efficiently by grandparents and other relatives,
by means of a Trust. The income paid by the trustees will
count as the children's income and any tax suffered by
the trustees could be reclaimed by capitalising the children's
personal allowances. |
