FINANCE
Tax and wealth planning tips for 2025 and beyond
By RICK SCHOFIELD, TAX PARTNER AT AZETS, Rick. schofield @ azets. co. uk
The government’ s 2025 Spring Statement brought no major tax changes, despite hopes that the increasing burden for businesses and individuals would be relaxed. With previously announced tax rises proceeding as planned, and the ramping up of HMRC’ s compliance activities, it’ s crucial to explore ways to mitigate their impact. Key actions to consider are:
• Review Tax Compliance: Ensure your business is compliant with VAT, PAYE and Corporation Tax requirements to avoid penalties.
• Digital Record-Keeping: Where possible, transition to digital recordkeeping systems to meet Making Tax Digital requirements and avoid late submission penalties.
• Review Hiring Strategies: Consider employment of apprentices and armed forces veterans, job sharing and flexible working, and outsourcing non-essential services.
• Evaluate Tax Reliefs: Take advantage of available tax reliefs such as the full expensing, the Annual Investment Allowance and research & development( R & D) tax credits.
• Succession Planning: Review and update succession plans in light of changes to Inheritance Tax and Business Property Relief from April 2026, with a particular focus on trust planning before the upcoming introduction of caps to the 100 % relief rate.
• Property Investments: Reassess property investment strategies considering changes to Stamp Duty Land Tax( impacts those in England and
Northern Ireland; Scotland and Wales operate different schemes) and the end of the Furnished Holiday Lettings regime.
• Maximise Interest Deductions: For corporates, ensure that you have maximised your interest deductions. One consideration is the Corporate Interest Restriction rules. The de minimis £ 2m threshold has not increased for some time and with higher interest rates, many more businesses are seeing tax relief on their borrowing costs capped and this is a barrier to investment.
• Consider Gifting: Each year you can gift £ 3,000 free of inheritance tax( IHT). If you haven’ t used the previous year’ s amount, you can use that too. In addition, there is a small gifts exemption of up to £ 250 per person per year. There are also some specific exemptions for gifts made in consideration of marriage and other live events.
• Asset Transfers: While giving assets away is not necessarily your first call in tax planning, sharing income-producing assets between spouses is a legitimate way of reducing overall income tax liabilities. One of the benefits of being married is that spouses can generally transfer assets between themselves free of inheritance tax or capital gains tax( albeit there are exceptions).
• Check Your Will: We would always advise you to regularly review and update your will as your family and financial circumstances change, and as tax legislation changes, as a way of ensuring succession and to manage your family’ s IHT exposure.
Consideration should also be given to setting up Lasting Powers of Attorney.
• Pension Planning: Effective and early pension planning is key to a financially secure retirement. At the heart of this planning is being aware of and taking full advantage of the available pension tax allowances for all the family. From 6 April 2027, pension funds, possibly including any unspent funds left in the scheme, will no longer be exempt from IHT when the scheme member dies. As such, making big( but not too big) pension contributions could be advantageous depending on your circumstances. Although pensions efficacy as legacy vehicles has reduced, they are still a great way to save tax efficiently for retirement. It’ s important that individuals now review their planning and ultimately their drawdown strategies, as it’ s more complex than previously.
We are here to help
If you have any questions on managing your tax position or navigating changes, please get in touch.
Local Offices: Ashford: 01233 629 255 Canterbury: 01227 454 861 Maidstone: 01622 690 666 Orpington: 01689 827 505 Sandwich: 01304 249 997
www. azets. co. uk
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