In a month’s time, 5 April 2020, the 2019-20 tax year expires. After this date many of the options to utilise allowances and claim reliefs to reduce tax for 2019-20 will disappear.

A number of the reliefs to consider are listed below. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Any numbers quoted refer to the tax year 2019-20.

• Have you utilised your £12,000 tax-free allowance for Capital Gains Tax purposes?
• You are entitled to make a number of small gifts that will not be taxed under the Inheritance Tax rules.
• Have you reviewed your pension contributions for 2019-20? According to the pundits, higher rate tax relief may be reduced in the budget next week. In which case, 2019-20 may be the last year to claim those higher rate reliefs.
• If you and your married partner are basic rate tax payers and one of you has not earned enough to cover their basic Income Tax personal allowance – £12,500 for 2019-20 – it may be possible to transfer part of the unused allowance to their partner. Check out the Marriage Allowance.
• Do you have an opportunity to draw up to £2,000 tax-free from your company in dividends? No additional tax to pay. Only applies to the first £2,000 in dividends you take.

The above list does not include other strategies for business owners and many more complex options for high income earners. Please call if you would like us to review any last minute options for you.

The Insolvency Service has issued a warning that fraudsters have been contacting investors in insolvent schemes claiming to be from the Official Receiver’s office or to have been appointed by the Official Receiver to help recover funds for a fee.

These approaches are always fraudulent.

Official Receivers or any agent legitimately instructed to act on their behalf will never ask you to pay a fee to get some or all of your investment back.

The Official Receiver can only make a return to you as a creditor in failed schemes if it is possible to identify and sell any remaining assets owned by the liquidated company you bought your investment from. All too often businesses of this nature have few if any, assets left to repay creditors and it can take several years to undertake complex asset recovery work and complete a liquidation.

Paying a fee will not make you a priority creditor, meaning you get paid faster or increase the chance of you getting any money back.

If you are asked to pay a fee to get your money back someone is attempting to scam you.

The Official Receiver does not charge investors a fee to get money back and does not employ anyone else to do this on their behalf.

You should report all fraudulent contact from individuals, stating they can get your lost investments back for a fee, to the Official Receivers. You can also report these approaches to Action Fraud.