The tax year-end list we work through every March

Every year there is a short window in March where a few hours of admin is worth more than any investment decision made in the same twelve months. Here is roughly the order we work in.

ISA allowances first, because they are simple and they disappear on 5 April. Then pension contributions, checked against annual allowance, carry forward from the three previous years, and whether a contribution moves someone below a tax threshold.

Then capital gains: whether to realise a gain inside the annual exemption, or a loss to carry forward. Then dividends, which matter most for clients who run a company and pay themselves from it.

Then the gifting allowances, which are the ones people forget. Small gifts, the annual exemption and gifts out of surplus income all need recording at the time, because the person who has to prove it later is not you.

None of this is exciting and all of it is arithmetic. We do it with your accountant rather than around them, so nobody files something in April that undoes work done in March.