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Pre-year end planning for your investments
With a new tax year just over two months away, this is the ideal time to ensure you are making the most of your current investments, as well as deciding on the most beneficial ones for 2010/2011.
Firstly, are you one of the 75 percent of Individual Savings Allowance (ISA) account holders not using their full annual allowance? This is especially important for the over 50s, who have been able to take advantage of an increased ISA limit of £10,200 since 6th October 2009. This will be able to everyone from 6th April, so take time to consider which ISA account will best meet your needs in 2010/2011.
Even if you are making the most of your allowance, this is an ideal time to review your current ISA assets and possibly move some to potentially more profitable or less risky investments within an ISA wrapper, which can be done without losing the tax advantage.
In this pre-year end period, it is also worth considering realising investments and bond gains or closing deposit accounts to maximise gains without incurring Capital Gains Tax. Alternatively, disposing of badly performing shares can produce a loss and so reduce the tax payable.
To possibly defer the liability for any substantial gains, consider investing in Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) shares, or a Venture Capital Trust (VCT) for income tax relief at 30 percent.
