TAXING TIMES

Eight easy moves to make before the tax year ends in WEEKS – or face missing out on £1,000s of free cash

We reveal what you can do now to make sure you don't lose out

Ellie Smitherman

Published: 7:06, 3 Mar 2024
Updated: 10:45, 4 Apr 2024

THERE are several easy moves you need to make before the tax year ends in just a few week's time.

These include things like using up tax-free allowances, claiming benefits and checking if you're owed cash.

There are several easy moves you need to make before the tax year ends

This is the last month to tap into perks for the 2023/24 tax year from the government.

Among the rewards up for grabs are pensioner payments and first-time buyer bonuses, and they can be worth thousands of pounds.

There are also a stack of tax changes that will come in when the new tax year starts on April 6.

A state pension rise and other benefits increases like Universal Credit and Income Support are all on the way.

1. Watch out for stealth taxes

Workers usually get some form of annual pay rise linked to inflation so rising prices don't leave them poorer over time.

Low earners are set to pay more in tax next year due to a rise in the minimum wage coming in April.

The minimum wage for workers aged 21 and over will go up to £11.44 an hour from April 1, up from £10.42.

This is due to income tax thresholds being frozen until 2028.

When wages go up but tax thresholds don't budge, this is called fiscal drag - or stealth tax.

Three key benefits that YOU could be missing out on, and one even gives you a free TV Licence

If you earn less than £12,570 in a year, you don't have to pay tax or national insurance on your income.

Income between £12,570 and £50,271 is taxed at the basic rate of 20% and between £50,271 and £125,140 at the higher rate of 40%.

Income above that is taxed at the additional rate of 45%.

While a pay rise from your boss or a rise in the minimum wage is often good news, tax rates staying the same means you'll likely pay more income tax.

If you're earning close to one of the income tax thresholds and are due a pay rise, it might be worth upping your pension contributions so you don't pay the extra.

This is because pension contributions are exempt from tax, which means you get to keep all of the money instead of handing some of it to HMRC.

2. Claim tax relief on work expenses

There are a few ways you can claim tax relief if you're spending money on things because you have to for your job.

During the pandemic government allowed everyone working from home to claim tax relief on some of their costs, including business phone calls and energy bills.

to see if you can claim for this and other work expenses including mileage, specialist equipment and more.

What can I claim tax relief on?

THERE are certain things that you can claim tax on under HMRC rules. They include the following:

Expenses for working from home
Repairing or replacing small tools needed to do their job (for example, scissors or an electric drill)
Cleaning, repairing or replacing specialist clothing (for example, a branded uniform or safety boots)
Business mileage (not commuting)
Travel and overnight expenses
Professional fees and subscriptions

3. Claim marriage allowance

Couples could get back up to £1,000 from HMRC this tax year by sharing their unused tax allowances.

The Marriage Allowance allows you to transfer 10% (£1,260) of your personal allowance, the amount you can earn tax-free each tax year, to your spouse or civil partner to cut their yearly tax bill, if they pay tax.

Couples who have not applied before can backdate their claims for the previous four tax years, which could potentially give them a lump sum payment worth just over £1,000.

They will also reduce their tax bill for 2023-24 by up to £252.

Here is how much the marriage tax allowance is worth for this tax year, plus the four previous tax years:

Who can claim Marriage Allowance?

TO be able to claim your tax break you need to tick all of these boxes:

You’re married or in a civil partnership
Your income is £12,500 or less. This includes people who don’t work
Your partner’s income is between £12,501 and £50,000

You can’t claim it if

You and your partner live together but aren’t married
You were born before April 6, 1935.

For more information visit the

4. Check your tax code

If your tax code is wrong, you may be paying thousands more than you need to, and you'll likely be owed money back.

The code is usually a mixture of letters and numbers - with the most common tax code being 1257L.

But these numbers and letters determine exactly how much income tax you pay on your earnings - so it's important you're on the right one.

And if you notice that you're on the wrong tax code, you can claim back any overpaid tax for the last four tax years.

But it's your responsibility to check and let HMRC know if it's wrong.

You can be on the wrong tax code for several reasons, including if you change your job or your salary goes up or down.

Sometimes, HMRC might not have received this information, and so will assume your circumstances haven't changed.

It's always worth checking your tax code to make sure you're paying the right amount of tax if you have moved jobs or had a change in salary.

Here's how you can claim a rebate from HMRC if you think you're owed tax back.

How do I check my tax code?

Everyone is issued a tax code by HMRC.

You can check your tax code on your personal tax account online, on any payslips or on the HMRC app.

You can also check it on a "Tax Code Notice" letter from HMRC.

Bear in mind, you might need your Government Gateway ID and password to hand to log in.

To open a Government Gateway account, you'll need your National Insurance number and postcode plus any two of the following:

A valid UK passport
A UK photocard driving licence issued by the DVLA (or DVA in Northern Ireland)
A payslip from the last three months or a P60 from your employer for the last tax year
Details of a tax credit claim if you have made one
Details from a self assessment tax return (in the last two years) if you made one
Information held on your credit record if you have one (such as loans, credit cards or mortgages)

5. Uniform tax rebate

If you wear a uniform at work and have to wash, repair or replace it yourself, you may be able to reclaim hundreds of pounds worth of tax for up to five years of expenses.

You can reclaim whether it's just a branded T-shirt or if you're a fully uniformed pilot, police officer or nurse.

The standard flat-rate expense allowance for uniform maintenance is £60 a year.

By claiming a uniform tax refund, you'll get back the amount of tax you would otherwise have paid on that £60.

6. Use up your ISA allowance

Savers will want to make the most of their ISA allowances before the end of the tax year as well.

An ISA (individual savings account) is a type of savings account where you don't pay any tax on interest earned.

Each year you get an allowance which is the total amount you can save into it each year to take advantage of this tax benefit.

You can save up to £20,000 each year into an ISA and if you don't use it up you can't carry it over to the next year.

First-time buyers saving into a Lifetime Isa (LISA) can save up to £4,000 into this account each year tax-free, plus they get a bonus of up to £1,000.

Junior Isas, known as JISAs for short, are savings accounts for kids that work in the same way.

But the amount you can save into one tax-free each year is lower, at £9,000.

The main benefit of ISAs is that you'll pay no income tax or capital gains tax on the interest you earn in the account, dividends paid to you and profit made by selling investments held in the ISA.

What is a Lifetime ISA?

FIRST-time buyers saving into a LISA can stash up to £4,000 into this account each year tax-free.

The government will add a 25% bonus to your savings, up to a maximum of £1,000 per year.

For example, if you save £4,000, you'll get a £1,000 bonus.

The amount you pay in is linked to your annual ISA allowance (£20,000 for 2023/24) – for example, if you pay £1,000 into your LISA, you can still pay £19,000 into other ISA products.

Any bonus you earn doesn't count towards your ISA allowance.

You can open a Lifetime ISA with any bank, building society or investment manager that offers the product.

You can only open a LISA if you're aged 18–39.

You can hold multiple Lifetime ISAs, although you can only pay into one each tax year.

You can also transfer your Lifetime ISA to another provider, for example, to get a better interest rate.

If you want to use a Lifetime ISA to buy a home, there are a few restrictions you need to keep in mind:

Only first-time buyers can use Lifetime ISAs to buy a home, which means you can't own, or have owned, a home in the UK or anywhere in the world.
You'll need to be buying a home for no more than £450,000.
You must be buying a home you plan to live in – the scheme isn’t for buying a home you want to rent out, or a holiday home.

If you don't use it to buy your first home, you can continue paying into a LISA until you're 50.

You can then make full or partial withdrawal from your LISA, without paying a fee, when you turn 60.

7. Check your child benefit

Child benefit is paid to parents to help with the costs of childcare.

Payments are usually made to you from the government every four weeks.

You normally qualify for child benefit if you live in the UK and are responsible for a child under 16.

From April 2024 the rate for your eldest or only child will go up to £25.60 a week - equating to around £102.40 a month or £1,334.86 a year.

If you claim child benefit you need to watch out for the High Income Child Benefit Charge though, as you lose all child benefits when you earn over £60,000.

Plus, anyone earning over £50,000 has to pay back a portion of the money in the form of extra income tax.

A change in situation, such as a salary increase or a new partner, could change entitlement to child benefits because of these rules.

This can result in a big bill to repay, even adding up to thousands of pounds for some families.

Before next month, if you find you earn over this amount it could be worth looking at ways to reduce your taxable income within the rules.

For instance, putting money into a workplace pension or using employer salary sacrifice schemes can reduce your taxable income without losing money.

Salary sacrifice is an agreement to reduce an employee's cash pay for non-cash benefits, like childcare vouchers or a cycle-to-work scheme.

Child benefit

Everything to know about child benefit:

How much is child benefit and when does it stop?

How long does child benefit take to claim and is it means-tested?

What age do child benefits stop and can I claim for a third child?

Are child benefit payments going up and how much more will I get?

8. Use up your capital gains tax allowance

Capital gains tax is charged on the profit you make when you sell something that has gone up in value, such as stock and shares, artwork or even a second home.

The first £6,000 of profit is tax-free but after that, you'll be charged up to 28% depending on what rate taxpayer you are and what you sold.

Basic rate taxpayers pay 10% on their gains unless it's property, in which case they pay 18%.

Higher and additional rate earners pay 20% tax, or 28% on property.

If you're planning on selling something and the profits could be over this amount, cashing in at the right time can keep profits below the threshold or reduce your capital gains tax bill.

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