As an employee you may be able to claim additional personal tax relief on employment expenses or fixed expenses agreed with HMRC. You may even be able to claim personal tax relief for working from home in specific circumstances.

Read more: Claim tax relief for your job expenses: Overview – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you are married or in a civil partnership and your income is less than your personal allowance, you may be able to transfer 10% of your unused personal allowance to your spouse or civil partner, providing they are not a higher rate taxpayer. This can currently save £252 in personal tax per year. The claim can also be backdated for up to 4 years.

Read more: Marriage Allowance: How it works – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you are a student, you need to check that you are paying the correct student loan repayments. Although repayments may be deducted from your salary, they will not take into account any other sources of income you may receive, including investment income, rental income, trust income etc. In these circumstances, you may need to complete a personal tax return so that any additional student loan repayments can be assessed and collected by HMRC.

Read more: Repaying your student loan: Overview – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you are in receipt of child benefit and your income is over £50,000, you should be aware that the child benefit is gradually withdrawn until your income reaches £60,000 when it is completely withdrawn. You may need to complete a personal tax return so that any child benefit can be assessed and collected by HMRC. Pension contributions and charitable gift aid payments can reduce your personal tax and at the same time, the amount of child benefit you may have to repay.

Read more: High Income Child Benefit Charge: Overview – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Gift Aid payments are a great way to reduce your overall personal tax liability, whilst at the same time helping a good cause. If you are a taxpayer and you give to a charity using the gift aid scheme, the charity can reclaim basic rate tax on your gift from HMRC. If you are a higher or additional rate taxpayer, you can claim additional tax relief either through your tax code, or through your personal tax return.

Read more:  Tax relief when you donate to a charity: Gift Aid – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If pension contributions are being deducted from your salary each month and you are a higher rate taxpayer, you may be able to claim additional tax relief against your personal tax liability, if you are not already receiving higher rate tax relief at source via your salary. The claim for tax relief can be included on your personal tax return, or if you do not complete one, you may be able to ask HM Revenue & Customs to include a corresponding allowance in your personal tax code.

Read more:  Tax on your private pension contributions: Tax relief – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If your income exceeds £100,000, your tax-free personal allowance starts to be withdrawn at a rate of £1 for every £2 of net adjusted income in excess of £100,000. Currently, your personal allowance is withdrawn completely if your net adjusted income currently exceeds £125,140.

There is an anomaly in the personal tax system, which means that if your income is currently between £100,000 and £125,140 (the equivalent of £100,000 plus twice the tax-free personal allowance), you pay an effective 60% personal tax rate. This is because not only do you pay 40% higher rate tax on the additional £2 of income over £100,000, but you also pay 40% on the £1 of personal allowance withdrawn, resulting in a 60% personal tax rate.

With careful planning, it may be possible to reduce your net adjusted income to below £100,000 by claiming tax reliefs, including trading losses, gross gift aid donations and pension contributions. You may also consider transferring investments to your spouse or civil partner.

Read more:  Income Tax rates and Personal Allowances : Income over £100,000 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Depending on your other sources of income you may qualify for a 0% starting rate of personal tax on savings income up to £5,000.

There is also a savings allowance which if you are a basic rate taxpayer is £1,000 and if you are a higher rate taxpayer it is £500. Additional rate taxpayers do not however qualify for the savings allowance.

Read more: Tax on savings interest: How much tax you pay – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you receive dividends, the first £500 for 2024/25 are charged to tax at 0%. Dividends within the allowance still count towards your basic and higher rate bands.

Dividends income received in excess of £500 are taxed at 8.75% if you are a basic rate taxpayer, 33.75% if you are a higher rate taxpayer and 39.35% if you are an additional rate taxpayer.

The dividend and savings allowances mean that you have to look carefully at the allocation of investments between you and your spouse to maximise the available reliefs.

Read more: Tax on dividends: How dividends are taxed – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Have you ever considered taking up employment overseas or retiring abroad? If so, it is essential that you seek advice to help you fully understand your tax obligations. It is important to understand the rules on return visits to the UK so that you are not unintentionally treated as resident here which may scupper any tax savings you have already achieved to date.

Read more: Tax if you leave the UK to live abroad – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Even if you live in the UK, you may still own property or assets overseas You should be aware of the UK tax treatment, so that any income or gains are correctly declared. The UK has a number of tax treaties with other jurisdictions and these should be consulted as there may be tax reporting requirements in the country where the asset is located.