The UK tax-year-end checklist (the things that disappear on 5 April)

The UK tax year runs from 6 April to the following 5 April. A few allowances reset at midnight on 5 April — if they're unused, they're gone. This is a walk through the main ones, the figures HMRC currently publishes, and the questions worth asking each year before the year closes. It's not advice; figures should be checked on the HMRC pages linked at the end before you act.

1. The ISA allowance — £20,000

You can pay up to £20,000 into ISA wrappers each tax year, in any combination of cash, stocks & shares, Lifetime ISA (which has its own £4,000 sub-cap) and innovative finance ISAs.

Two things catch people out every March:

• No carry-forward. If you don't use the allowance by 5 April, it doesn't roll over.
• Transfers don't count. Moving an old ISA from one provider to another doesn't use any of the current year's allowance — provided you use the official transfer process, not a withdraw-and-redeposit.

If you're going to use the allowance, the calendar doesn't care if it's deposited on 6 April or 5 April — but provider cut-offs do. Most online ISAs accept deposits up to the last working day before 5 April; some paper-based ones close earlier.

HMRC's ISA guidance →

2. Pension annual allowance — £60,000

The standard annual allowance for pension contributions (employee + employer + tax relief, combined) is £60,000 in 2026/27. If you've not used it in this or the previous three tax years, the unused amounts may be available via carry-forward, in strict order — oldest year first.

A few notes that surprise people:

• The allowance includes employer contributions and the basic-rate tax relief added by HMRC, not just what you paid in.
• High earners can have a tapered annual allowance — it reduces by £1 for every £2 of "adjusted income" over £260,000, down to a minimum of £10,000.
• The Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA) is £10,000 — triggered if you've flexibly accessed a defined-contribution pension. Once triggered, carry-forward stops working for DC contributions.

The relief itself is one of the few areas of UK personal finance with mechanical generosity baked in — a higher-rate taxpayer contributing £1,000 gross gets the same £1,000 in the pot for an after-relief cost of around £600. The catch is that the money can't usually be touched until age 57+ (rising to 58 from 6 April 2028).

HMRC pensions tax-relief guidance →

3. Capital Gains Tax allowance — £3,000

The annual exempt amount for CGT is £3,000 (it was £6,000 in 2023/24 and £12,300 before that). Any gains above this in the tax year are taxable at 18% in the basic-rate band or 24% above it — these rates were unified from 30 October 2024.

If you hold unsheltered investments — a general investment account, a property other than your main home, crypto outside an ISA — it's worth checking before 5 April whether you're sitting on accrued gains you could realise within the allowance. Selling and immediately rebuying the same investment is restricted (the 30-day "bed and breakfast" rule), but selling and replacing with a similar fund, or rebuying inside an ISA wrapper, is normal practice.

HMRC CGT guidance →

4. Dividend allowance — £500

The first £500 of dividend income each year is tax-free — outside an ISA. Anything above is taxed at 8.75% (basic band), 33.75% (higher) or 39.35% (additional). The allowance has shrunk fast — it was £2,000 as recently as 2022/23.

Dividends inside a stocks & shares ISA aren't taxed and don't use the allowance.

5. Personal Savings Allowance — £1,000 / £500 / £0

Interest from non-ISA savings accounts is tax-free up to the Personal Savings Allowance: £1,000 for basic-rate taxpayers, £500 for higher-rate, and zero for additional-rate. With rates higher than they were for most of the 2010s, basic-rate taxpayers can now hit the £1,000 cap with around £22,000 in a 4.5% account.

If you're approaching the cap on cash sitting outside an ISA wrapper, the calculus for using your remaining ISA allowance gets stronger.

6. Marriage Allowance — £1,260

A non-tax-paying or basic-rate spouse can transfer £1,260 of their personal allowance to their partner, provided the partner is also a basic-rate taxpayer. The benefit caps at around £252 of tax saved per year. Claims can be backdated up to four tax years.

This one is dull and small — but if it applies and you've never claimed, the backdating means a few hundred pounds in catch-up tax relief.

HMRC marriage allowance guidance →

7. The £3,000 gift allowance (for inheritance tax)

If you're thinking about IHT, the £3,000 annual exemption is the simplest tool. You can give that away each year and it leaves your estate immediately — no seven-year clock. Unused, it carries forward exactly one year. So if you didn't use last year's, you can give £6,000 this year, no questions asked.

Small gifts of up to £250 per person to as many people as you like, gifts in consideration of marriage, and gifts out of surplus income are separate rules — all worth a read if estate planning is on your mind.

8. Lifetime ISA — £4,000 (for the bonus)

If you're using a LISA for a first home or for retirement, the £4,000 annual cap is the trigger for the 25% government bonus — up to £1,000 added by HMRC. The bonus is per tax year, so any allowance unused by 5 April vanishes too.

Note the property cap: the LISA can be used penalty-free to buy a first home up to a purchase price of £450,000. The cap hasn't moved in years and is increasingly tight in southeast England — worth checking before relying on the LISA route.

9. Premium Bonds — £50,000 holding limit

Not strictly a tax-year-end item, but if you're at or near the £50,000 holding limit and have been topping up, the cap is hard. NS&I won't let you over it. Prize money is tax-free and isn't reported on self-assessment.

A practical pattern people follow

A reasonable, evergreen rhythm — not a recommendation, just what many people actually do:

1. Late February / early March: open a spreadsheet listing what's been paid into ISAs, pensions, LISAs this tax year.
2. Identify which allowances are still unused and could realistically be funded from cash on hand or January/February surplus.
3. Plan any CGT disposals — these need to settle in the right tax year.
4. Submit any Marriage Allowance backdated claims.
5. Leave 7–10 days' buffer for provider cut-offs. Last-minute transfers especially have failed.

---

Last updated 22 May 2026. Figures are taken from HMRC and gov.uk publications and apply to the 2026/27 tax year unless stated otherwise. Tax rules change — confirm on gov.uk before acting. This article is educational and is not personal financial advice. See our disclaimer.