Making the most of the tax year

It's now less than a month to the end of the tax year (5th April). As a sole trader and/or individual taxpayer, what could you do between now and then to make the most of this tax year?

Check the timing of planned asset purchases

Are you planning to buy a new large piece of equipment for your business, such as a computer?

Check how much you’ve already spent on large items of equipment thus far in the tax year, assuming you prepare your accounts to 5th April each year. The annual investment allowance, which lets you claim tax relief of 100% of the cost of qualifying assets, went up to £250,000 from 1st January 2013, but you have to pro-rata it depending on what date you use for your accounts year end.

So because the allowance was £25,000 before that date, if you prepare your accounts to 5th April each year, you can claim tax relief of up to £81,250 on qualifying assets you bought that year (£81,250 = (£25,000 x 9/12) + (£250,000 x 3/12)).

That’s not an allowance you can carry forward, so use it or lose it!

Remember, though, that not all assets qualify for this allowance. For example, cars don’t.

Plan your disposals, too

Conversely though, if you're planning to sell an asset that would give rise to capital gains tax, you could be advised to wait until after the end of the tax year, so 6th April 2013 or later, if you can. Then you'll pay the capital gains tax a year later!

But it might not be the best idea to wait if you're planning to sell a lot more assets next year. This is because each year, every individual gets an annual exemption that we can set against capital gains. This was £10,600 for 2011/12. The figure for the tax year to 5th April 2013 hasn’t been announced yet, but it’s likely to be that or higher.

This exemption can't be carried forward to the next tax year if you don't use it. It’s another case of use it or lose it!

So if you're going to be selling a lot of assets that give rise to capital gains tax in the near future, you may opt to spread the sales between two tax years instead (for example, sell some in March and some in May), to make best use of your annual exemptions.

Although you may pay tax sooner, you'll pay less tax overall if you do that.

Time your costs...

You might also be able to bring forward tax relief if you have genuine business costs coming up soon. Incur them in March rather than in April, and you could get the tax relief on those costs a year earlier.

If, for example, you've been thinking, "I really must get some new business cards printed", and your business's year end coincides with the tax year - then grab your logo file and get down to the printer's before 5th April!

Remember, expenses go into your business accounts when they're incurred, not when you pay for them - so even if you don't pay the printer till 6th April, so long as (s)he did the work before 5th April and you have an invoice, you should be OK to put that expense into your accounts.

...and your income

It's tempting to wait until 6th April to invoice your customer for some work done, so that this income goes into your next tax year and you pay tax on it a year later.

HMRC know that trick, though!

If you do the work before the end of the tax year, you need to accrue that income, i.e. count it as income of the tax year in which you did the work.

Make use of government-backed schemes

Mr Osborne does (sometimes) hand out tax relief on a plate.

• If you're looking to put some money aside, consider investing what you can of this year's allowance in an ISA, because this year's allowance will be lost on 5th April**.
• Alternatively, if you're aged between 16 and 74, you can invest up to £25 a month in tax-exempt savings policies issued by friendly societies.
• Consider putting money into a pension, to get tax relief. Speak to your accountant and your financial adviser if you want to do this, because there are rules around tax avoidance in this area.
• If you want to invest in someone else's business, consider investing in shares under the new Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.

** That's £11,280 (of which £5,640 can be in a cash ISA).

Tax is never simple at the best of times, but by timing your sales and purchases carefully you can stay within the rules and yet make sure that you don’t pay too much tax.