10 easy moves to save you money before the end of the 2025/26 tax year

Investors and savers don’t have much time left to make the most of valuable tax perks before the end of the 2025/26 tax year.

At midnight on 5 April 2026, the current tax year will finish and the new 2026/27 tax year will begin. As it ends, some allowances will be lost forever.

Camilla Esmund, retail investment expert at investment platform Interactive Investor, said: “The start of the new year, and the run-up to the end of the tax year is the perfect time to review where your money is sitting and whether it’s working as hard as it could be.”

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ISAs are a common way for people to shield their savings and investments from HMRC.

However, the £20,000 allowance doesn’t roll over and will reset on 6 April, so, if you can, you should make the most of the 2025/26 allowance before then.

The cash ISA limit is being lowered to £12,000 for under-65s from April 2027, so it may be worth making the most of the current £20,000 cap before the rule change.

With this in mind, we've put together a handy checklist to help you maximise tax allowances and grow your money further.

1. Use your ISA allowance

The £20,000 ISA limit is often referred to as a “use it or lose it” allowance. This means you can pay in a maximum of £20,000 across all your ISAs (bar the junior ISA, which has a separate £9,000 limit) each tax year, but you can’t roll over any unused allowances into the next tax year.

The £20,000 allowance applies to cash ISAs, stocks and shares ISAs, lifetime ISAs and innovative finance ISAs.

Putting your money into an ISA means you won’t pay a penny in income tax, dividend tax or capital gains tax (CGT) on any interest, income or profits that you receive. So, it may be worth moving any investments into a stocks and shares ISA, and savings into a cash ISA, to shelter it from the taxman.

If you want to open a stocks and shares ISA but aren’t sure where to invest the money, you can always “park” it in a cash fund and decide later.

2. Do a 'bed and ISA'

You may not have had to worry about paying tax on investments held outside an ISA in the past, as the capital gains tax and dividend tax-free allowances have more than covered any income or profits.

However, both of these allowances have shrunk in recent years, so you could be faced with an unexpected tax bill.

The CGT tax-free allowance is now £3,000 (down from £12,300 just a few years ago).

The tax-free dividend allowance dropped from £2,000 to £1,000 in April 2023, then was halved again from £1,000 to £500 in April 2024.

The dividend allowance will remain at £500 for 2026/27, but the rate at which tax is paid on dividends earned over this limit will rise from April 2026.

The ordinary and higher rate will increase by two percentage points, from 8.75% to 10.75%, and from 33.75% to 35.75%, respectively. The additional rate (39.35%) won’t change.

However, shifting investments into an ISA via a process known as a bed and ISA transfer protects future gains and dividends from the clutches of tax.

It involves selling and buying back shares, which could trigger a capital gains tax liability. The CGT rates were hiked in October 2024, in the Autumn Budget, meaning basic-rate taxpayers now pay 18% on gains, while higher and additional-rate taxpayers pay 24%.

So, if you're doing a bed and ISA, beware of realising a gain and paying these higher rates. You could sell some investments now and some in the 2026/27 tax year to take advantage of both tax-free allowances and avoid paying CGT (or reduce a potential bill).

3. Transfer money to your spouse

Any investments transferred to your spouse or civil partner are exempt from capital gains tax. As long as your spouse hasn’t used up their tax-free allowance this year and has some ISA allowance remaining, you can make the most of those tax breaks.

Keep a note of the original cost of the asset, as that’s what will be used when your partner comes to sell it.

The same goes for income-producing investments: your spouse also benefits from a £500 tax-free dividend allowance this tax year, so you can move investments to them to maximise that tax break.

There’s a possible double benefit, too. If your spouse is in a lower income tax bracket, they will pay either dividend or CGT at a lower rate.

4. Get free cash with a Lifetime ISA

Lifetime ISAs can be opened by anyone aged between 18 and 39 and used to buy your first home (if it costs £450,000 or less) or for retirement (after you turn 60).

You can add up to £4,000 into one of these accounts each tax year, but because they’re ISAs, this allowance doesn’t roll over. The £4,000 counts within the overall £20,000 annual ISA allowance.

Any amount you put into a LISA benefits from a 25% bonus from the government (up to £1,000 a year) so if you haven’t used up the £4,000 allowance already and have the budget, it’s worth topping up your account before the end of the tax year.

Do note, if you make a withdrawal and it’s not for your first home or retirement, you have to pay a 25% ‘unauthorised withdrawal’ charge on the amount you withdraw.

For example, if you had a pot worth £800, the 25% government bonus would take you to £1,000. If you were to withdraw everything from this pot, the 25% charge would apply to the full £1,000, meaning you would receive a net £750.

5. Claim the marriage allowance

Under the marriage allowance, one person in a couple could transfer some of their personal allowance to the other.

To claim it, one person has to have an income below the £12,570 personal allowance and the other must be a basic rate taxpayer (earning between £12,571 and £50,270).

The person not paying income tax can transfer up to £1,260 of their personal allowance to the other, raising their spouse’s personal allowance and therefore meaning the couple pays less in income tax overall.

For the current tax year, the allowance could save you £252 on your tax bill. You can also currently backdate claims for each tax year back to the 2021/22 tax year.

More than 2.1 million couples currently benefit from the tax break, however HMRC estimates around two million more eligible couples aren’t claiming it.

The non-taxpayer should apply on the HMRC website to access the allowance. If there's a problem doing the online application, you can apply via self-assessment or by writing to HMRC. You can also call 0300 200 3300 for help.

6. Maximise your pensions

You can pay up to £60,000 into your pensions this tax year and receive tax relief. Your annual allowance depends on how much you earn.

If you’re not working, you can still contribute up to £2,880 each tax year, which is boosted to £3,600 when including tax relief.

Pension savers can also use carry-forward rules to make large contributions. This allows you to utilise unused allowances from the three previous tax years.

This may be particularly lucrative for small business owners with large cash profits.

Pensions tax relief is automatically claimed for basic-rate taxpayers, but if you’re a higher-rate or additional-rate taxpayer in a ‘relief at source’ pension scheme, you will need to actively claim the extra 20% or 25%, respectively.

The taxman has kept hold of £1.3 billion in unclaimed pension tax relief over the past five years, so it could pay handsomely to check if you can benefit.

As well as being a tax-efficient way to save for retirement, you can also use your pension contributions to reduce your income tax band.

When you contribute to your pension pot, the gross value of the contribution has the effect of extending your basic-rate tax band. This means the rates of CGT and dividend tax you pay could be lower if it means you are no longer a higher-rate taxpayer.

If you’ve only just tipped over into the next tax band, a small pension contribution could bring you under the threshold, leading to a significant saving.

Adding more to your pension can also be useful if you’ve started earning over £100,000, which is subject to the 60% tax trap, and disqualifies you for free childcare hours.

7. Reduce your inheritance tax liability

Several inheritance tax (IHT) breaks can help you reduce your overall IHT tax liability.

The most well-known is the ‘annual exemption’, allowing you to make a £3,000 gift each tax year. Crucially, this allowance can be carried forward – so, you can make a £6,000 gift should you have the allowance remaining from last year.

As a couple, each person gets the same £3,000 allowance, potentially doubling the IHT reduction you can make.

You are allowed to make gifts of up to £250 to as many people as you like, so long as you haven’t made any larger gift to that person.

Gifts over the £3,000 annual exemption threshold can be free from inheritance tax, known as a Potentially Exempt Transfer (PET), so long as you live for at least seven years after giving it.

If the gift given was made over three years before death, the inheritance tax rate reduces. For example, if there are three to four years between a gift being made and someone dying, tax on the gift is paid at a rate of 32%, rather than the standard 40% rate.

8. Help your kids with an ISA or pension

On top of your pension contribution allowances, money can be put aside into someone else’s savings, including your children's. The benefit of this is children are still entitled to tax relief on the contribution, even if they are non-taxpayers.

Investing £3,600 a year, the maximum allowed, on behalf of a child will cost you only £2,880. That's because a top-up of £720 from the taxman is added to your contribution.

While starting a pension for a child may seem odd, it's a useful way to maximise tax savings and help ensure they have a retirement fund for later life. Pension contributions for under-18s rose to £79.6 million in the year to 5 April 2023, up from £75.9 million the previous year, according to HMRC.

Likewise, a junior ISA can act in much the same way, although the youngster will be able to access the pot of money much earlier, from age 18. Parents, relatives and friends can contribute a total of £9,000 into the account each tax year, and any investment gains are tax-free. Like the adult ISA limit, this is a ‘use it or lose it’ allowance: it does not roll over into the next tax year.

Like adult ISAs, there are two types of junior ISA: cash ISAs, and stocks and shares ISAs. If you're considering a stocks and shares junior account but are overwhelmed by the choice, take a look at our guide to selecting which junior ISA is best suited to you.

9. Check your tax code

If your tax code is wrong, you could be paying thousands of pounds of extra tax to the taxman. So, it's important to check your tax code.

The code is normally a mix of letters and numbers; the most common tax code is 1257L.

If you notice 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.

Sometimes people are on the wrong tax code if they change their job or their salary goes up or down.

If you think you have overpaid tax through PAYE in the current tax year, you should tell HMRC before the end of the tax year. There's more information on gov.uk about how to claim a tax refund.

10. Check your child benefit

Child Benefit is paid to parents to help with the costs of childcare. The rate for an eldest or only child is £26.05 a week, while the rate for any other children is £17.25 a week. These payments will increase by 3.8% to £27.05 and £17.90, respectively, from 6 April 2026.

But parents must watch out for the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC), as they currently lose part or all of the payments when their individual income is over £60,000.

Anyone earning between £60,000 and £80,000 has to pay back a portion of the money in the form of extra income tax. Anyone earning over £80,000 has to pay all the Child Benefit back.

This used to have to be repaid via self-assessment tax return, but some parents are now having the HICBC deducted through PAYE after HMRC introduced a new payment system.

If you earn slightly above £80,000 you may be able to reduce your taxable income and keep more of your Child Benefit.

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

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