Personal tax planning
We offer a specialist personal tax planning service tailored to your individual needs that includes:
- Advice on minimising tax liability for all personal taxes, including:
- Income tax
- Capital gains tax (CGT)
- Inheritance tax (IHT)
- Non-domiciliary taxes
- Completion and filing of relevant returns
- Advice on what payments are due and when
- Advice on trusts and estates
We can offer you personal tax planning advice from one of our Tax Partners.
He or she will help you optimise your tax position and ensure you meet all the compliance requirements.
Clients who benefit from personal tax planning attest to the value of an independent adviser who can look at their situation within the larger picture.
Your personal Tax Adviser will also be available to advise on issues such as:
- How best to handle benefits such as company cars and accommodation
- Whether directors should be paid by salary or dividend
- How to minimise CGT liability on disposal of assets
- How to optimise your tax position when living or working abroad
With the complex nature of tax and finances today, we also encourage our clients to develop a comprehensive personal finance plan that, in addition to general tax planning, covers:
- Provision for education costs
- Mortgage planning
- Savings & investments
- Insurance planning
- Healthcare provision
- Retirement planning
- Estate planning
Decisions made in any of these areas are likely to affect one or more of the others, which is why we recommend working within an overall plan.
We can help you draw up a comprehensive personal financial plan.
Contact us today to discuss how we can help you manage your personal finances more effectively.
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Self assessments
Accurate, timely personal returns to HMRC, with attention paid to every detail, ensuring you claim all the necessary tax reliefs and allowances.
Importance of Personal Tax Planning
The Basics
Tax planning is about arranging your finances to save as much as possible and pay less tax. Knowing the rules, the allowances and the credits is key. We identify where you can save tax and apply various strategies to achieve this. For example using tax efficient accounts such as ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts) is a good start.
Personal pension contributions are topped up by basic rate tax, which is mostly automatic for basic rate taxpayers.
Deductions and credits are key to reducing tax. Planning how to use them throughout the year is key to saving as much as possible. Keeping track of work, education and health expenses can have a big impact on personal tax returns. Tax planning services often provide bespoke advice to help navigate complex tax structures and ensure compliance.
Corporate vs Personal Tax Planning
Corporate tax planning and personal tax planning are two different things. Both aim to reduce tax but the strategies and rules are different. Corporate tax planning is about arranging business activities to reduce tax exposure, for example choosing the right business structure, managing expenses and taking advantage of tax reliefs.
Personal tax planning is about individual income and investments. It’s about income splitting, retirement planning and investment timing. Each requires a bespoke plan to suit the individual’s financial goals and legal requirements.
Tax planning is important in both corporate and personal but the application is different. For someone running a business, consulting a tax adviser helps you understand corporate tax rules and how to maximise business profits. For an individual it’s about planning your personal finances and investments to be tax efficient.
While corporate and personal tax planning both aim to reduce tax, the methods and rules are very different. Both require an informed and strategic approach to get the most out of the available benefits.
Our Tax Planning Strategies
Tax planning is key to reducing tax and saving. Our key strategies are about using tax allowances and reliefs, investment and tax efficiency and retirement and tax. It is crucial to structure your finances in the most tax efficient way, particularly when saving for retirement or taking an income.
Using Tax Allowances and Reliefs
One of our main tax planning strategies is to use all the tax allowances and reliefs. Personal tax planning benefits from understanding these allowances. For example the personal allowance allows you to earn £12,570 (2023/24) tax free. Plus using the Marriage Allowance can transfer £1,260 of personal allowance to a spouse and save tax for married couples.
We also use reliefs like the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) annual exemption. Currently £12,300 this exemption applies to gains made from selling assets. Entrepreneurs’ Relief gives a 10% CGT rate on qualifying business disposals up to £1 million in lifetime gains. We also consider the Dividend Allowance which allows £2,000 of dividend income tax free for individuals with investment portfolios.
Investment and Tax Efficiency
Investing for tax efficiency is another key strategy in our tax planning services. Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) are a foundation. ISAs allow £20,000 per year of tax free investments, including stocks, shares and cash ISAs. We also recommend Junior ISAs for children which have a £9,000 annual limit.
In addition to ISAs, specific tax efficient investments like Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) offer significant tax benefits but come with higher risks.
Pensions also have tax benefits. Contributions get tax relief at an individual’s highest marginal rate and boost retirement savings. Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) give 30% income tax relief and CGT exemption on investments.
Choosing tax efficient funds that don’t trade unnecessarily and maximise long term growth is key. We review the funds structure and performance to get the tax impact right and make informed investment decisions for our clients.
Retirement and Tax
Retirement planning involves tax planning to protect income and wealth. Maximising pension contributions whilst employed is key. The annual allowance for pension contributions is £40,000 with provisions to carry forward unused allowance from the past three years.
Drawing from pensions in retirement requires planning. We consider the 25% tax free lump sum available from defined contribution pensions at 55. The rest drawn as income may be taxed at marginal rates.
Our strategy is to balance pensions with other savings to reduce tax impact. For example using ISAs or General Investment Accounts (GIAs) can complement pension income. We consider potential changes in legislation and personal circumstances to keep our strategies up to date and relevant.
By using allowances, investment efficiency and retirement planning we provide tax planning advice to get you financially fit.
Why Coveney Nicholls?
Coveney Nicholls offers tax planning services for individuals and corporates. Our holistic approach gets the best results. We help clients reduce their tax bill through legal methods and timely submission of tax returns.
Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs)
ISAs help you save more and pay less tax. At Coveney Nicholls we walk you through the different ISA options including Cash ISAs, Stocks and Shares ISAs and Innovative Finance ISAs.
We explain to our clients the annual contribution limits which are £20,000 (2023/24 tax year). By using ISAs clients can shelter investments from Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax (CGT).
Marriage Allowance
Marriage Allowance allows spouses and civil partners to transfer part of their personal tax allowance to each other. This can be a big tax saving for couples. At Coveney Nicholls we help our clients check if they are eligible and facilitate the transfer.
From 2023 one spouse or partner can transfer £1,260 of their personal allowance to the other which could save up to £252 in Income Tax per year. This is particularly useful for couples where one partner’s income is below the Personal Allowance threshold.
Capital Gains Tax
CGT planning is key to protecting wealth. At Coveney Nicholls we have strategies for our clients’ investment portfolios. This includes understanding and using the annual CGT exemption which is £12,300 per person.
We advise on the tax efficient timing of asset disposals and ways to spread gains over multiple tax years or between family members. Our guidance gets our clients the reliefs like Entrepreneurs’ Relief and Investors’ Relief.
Inheritance Tax Planning
Estate planning minimises IHT liabilities. Our personal tax planning at Coveney Nicholls gets the best results. The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) is a higher risk investment scheme that offers generous tax benefits, including a 50% income tax rebate on investments up to £100,000.
We help our clients use IHT allowances like the Nil-Rate Band and the Residence Nil-Rate Band and advise on trusts and other estate planning tools. Our approach means our clients’ estates pass to beneficiaries with minimal tax impact.
Our tax planning advice gives our clients the knowledge and tools to get financially fit.
Let’s talk today
Our tax experts will be happy to have an exploratory conversation, free of charge, so that you can discover for yourself what make Coveney Nicholls the intelligent choice for businesses and individuals in need of tax advice.
