Turning the tax year page: A simple tax year end planning checklist

Individual savings accounts (ISAs) and cash reserves: Using your ISA allowance at the start of the tax year

Each new tax year brings a fresh ISA allowance for tax-free savings, and an opportunity to review cash reserves to ensure you have adequate short-term security without holding excessive cash that could be put to better long-term use. 

Whether you are contributing regularly or planning a lump sum, reviewing how your ISAs are structured is key. Are they invested appropriately for your time horizon and risk tolerance? Are you using ISAs as a long-term growth vehicle, a source of future tax-free income, or simply a flexible savings pot? Small adjustments made early in the tax year can compound meaningfully over time.

For the 2026/27 tax-year the ISA allowance remains £20,000 overall.

This can be split between a Stocks and Shares ISA and a Cash ISA e.g £10,000 each or £15,000 in one and £5,000 in the other and this is a perfect time to assess the level of your cash savings. 

Typically, we suggest holding between 3-6 months of essential expenditure (rent, mortgage, food bills etc) in an instantly accessible current or savings account although this is very personal.

Anything above this should be considered for contribution into your ISA before the tax year end to avoid losing unused allowance. ISA allowance that is not used cannot be rolled over into the next year. 

Pension contributions and tax year end planning

The start of the tax year is a good opportunity to reassess pension funding and pension contributions for the new tax year. With changes to salary sacrifice pension funding not taking effect until April 2029, several opportunities remain including checking contribution levels, ensuring you are making full use of employer contributions, and confirming your pension strategy still reflects your retirement plans. For higher earners, it may also be worth revisiting how pension contributions fit into wider tax-planning.

You can benefit from pension tax relief at your marginal rate on all personal contributions into a pension. The annual allowance for the current tax year is the lower of £60,000 gross or your relevant earnings, including contributions into an employer scheme. For those with threshold income of over £200,000 and adjusted income of over £260,000, you will be subject to tapering rules.

It is also an optimal time to consider whether you can benefit from sweeping up unused annual pension allowances from the previous three tax-years, often referred to as carry forward.

Lastly, a thorough review of your workplace pension scheme is sensible as it is often the case that you will be invested in a default arrangement with potentially limited flexibility. Deciding whether to partially transfer funds into a more modern personal arrangement will allow you total flexibility and control over how your monies are invested for the long-term.

There are several pitfalls with pension transfers, and it is crucial that a thorough examination of the ceding scheme takes place before a transfer decision takes place.

Insurance and protection: Reviewing your position for the new tax year

Life has a habit of changing when least expected. A new tax year is a good time to check that protection arrangements such as life insurance, income protection and Critical Illness Cover remain suitable.

Whether you are planning on moving house or job in the tax-year or enjoying the birth of a new child, each new life event is a key time to review your insurance. Ensuring your family are not over insured or underinsured will result in an effective use of your budget for this area. Insurance is the foundation for any robust financial plan and whilst spending hard-earned money on an intangible product that you hope to never use can feel unimportant, it is absolutely essential.