Tax Year End Checklist: Last-Minute Actions Before 5 April 2026

The 2025/26 tax year closes on 5 April, and unlike most deadlines, this one can't be extended, appealed, or filed late - once the date passes, any unused allowance for the year is simply gone. With under two weeks left, now is the time to check you've made the most of what's available before the door closes. Here's a practical run-through of the areas worth reviewing before the year ends.

ISA Allowances Don't Roll Over

The annual ISA allowance lets you shelter savings and investments from tax, but it resets each year rather than accumulating - whatever you don't use by 5 April simply disappears rather than carrying forward. If you have spare cash sitting in an ordinary savings account and haven't used your ISA allowance for the year, this is worth addressing before the deadline rather than after it, since you'll have to wait a full year to make up the difference otherwise.

Pension Contributions and the Annual Allowance

Pension contributions remain one of the most valuable tax planning tools available, reducing your taxable income while building retirement savings, and for higher earners they can be particularly effective at clawing back a Personal Allowance that starts tapering away above £100,000 of income. If you haven't used your full annual allowance this year, and particularly if you have unused allowance carried forward from the previous three tax years, it's worth reviewing whether an additional contribution before 5 April makes sense for your circumstances. This is an area where the right amount depends heavily on your individual income and existing pension arrangements, so it's worth getting proper advice rather than guessing.

Capital Gains Tax Annual Exempt Amount

Everyone has an annual exempt amount for Capital Gains Tax, below which gains on the disposal of assets such as shares, property (other than your main home) or business assets aren't taxed at all. Like the ISA allowance, this exemption doesn't carry forward - if you're planning to sell an asset that will realise a gain, and you haven't used your exempt amount elsewhere this year, timing the disposal before or after 5 April can make a real difference to your tax bill. This is particularly worth thinking about if you're planning a series of disposals over more than one tax year, where spreading gains across years can reduce the overall tax paid.

Dividend Allowance for Company Directors

If you're a director or shareholder drawing income through dividends, remember that the dividend allowance - the amount of dividend income you can receive tax-free each year - also resets annually rather than accumulating. If your company has retained profits available and you haven't yet used this year's allowance, it may be worth reviewing your dividend timing before the year end, alongside your salary and bonus strategy for the year as a whole.

Marriage Allowance

Often overlooked, Marriage Allowance lets one spouse or civil partner transfer a portion of their unused Personal Allowance to a partner who is a basic rate taxpayer, provided the lower earner doesn't use their full allowance themselves. If this applies to your household and you haven't claimed it, you can actually backdate a claim for up to four previous tax years, but the current year's claim still needs to be made before it closes off, so it's worth checking now rather than assuming there's no rush.

Gift Aid and Charitable Giving

If you've made charitable donations during the year through Gift Aid, and particularly if you're a higher or additional rate taxpayer, make sure you have the paperwork in order to claim the additional relief you're entitled to above the basic rate the charity has already reclaimed. There's also an option to carry back Gift Aid donations made after 5 April into the current tax year if you file your return before the following 31 January - useful if you want relief sooner rather than waiting an extra year.

For Business Owners: Capital Expenditure

If your business is planning any capital purchases - equipment, machinery, vehicles - timing matters. Bringing planned expenditure forward into the current accounting period, where it aligns with the tax year, can affect when you receive tax relief through capital allowances. This isn't a reason to buy things you don't need, but if a purchase is already planned for the near future, it's worth checking whether timing it before or after the year end changes the picture for your business.

A Realistic Approach to the Final Fortnight

None of this is about scrambling to make drastic decisions in the last few days - rushed tax planning rarely produces good outcomes, and there's a real risk of making a decision that suits the calendar better than it suits your actual financial situation. The aim of a checklist like this is simply to make sure nothing gets missed by accident, not to pressure you into using every allowance regardless of whether it's the right call for you.

If you think you might be leaving value on the table this year, get in touch now rather than after 5 April - once the year closes, several of these options close with it, and there's no way to reopen them once the date has passed.