The end of the tax year - sometimes known as the “financial year” - is fast approaching.
Unlike the traditional calendar year, the tax year doesn’t run from January to December - instead, it always starts on April 6 and ends on April 5 the following year.
Most tax allowances and reliefs run during the tax year, affecting everything from your savings to your pension.
It is even more important than ever to keep on top of these, as the Income Tax thresholds for the following tax year have been frozen.
This means millions of workers are at risk of paying more in tax over the next few years.
We run through everything you need to know before the end of the current tax year.
1. Use your ISA allowance
Individual Savings Accounts - more commonly known as ISAs - let you save up to £20,000 each tax year without paying tax on the interest you gain.
There are different types of ISAs - such as Cash ISAs, Stocks and Shares ISAs and Lifetime ISAs.
You can save up to £20,000 in one type of ISA, or split the allowance across different types.
If you have a Lifetime ISA, you can only pay £4,000 each tax year and you get a 25% bonus on this, so up to £1,000 each tax year.
Lifetime ISAs are for first-time buyers aged 18 to 39, or people saving for their retirement.
You cannot transfer your ISA allowance to another tax year, so you need to either use it, or you’ll lose it.
However, if you don’t have large savings, you may not necessarily need an ISA to avoid paying tax on your interest.
If you’re a 20% taxpayer, you can currently earn £1,000 in interest a year anyway without paying tax - this is called your personal savings allowance.
For 40% higher rate taxpayers, the personal savings allowance is £500, while additional rate taxpayers don't get any allowance.
2. Save for your children
There are also ISAs designed for under-18s called Junior ISAs, which you can use to save up to £9,000 a year.
This does not affect your own £20,000 ISA limit.
The annual allowance also applies per child, so if you have more than one child, each with their own Junior ISA, each will have its own £9,000 yearly limit.
The £9,000 annual allowance can be split between different accounts.
3. Use your pension allowance
Your pension annual allowance is how much can be paid into your pension plans each tax year before a tax charge applies.
The limit is currently £40,000 - but from the new tax year, this is rising to £60,000, as announced in the Spring Budget.
If you have used your annual allowance, you can normally carry over any unused allowance from the previous three tax years.
The pension annual allowance applies to money paid in across all your pension plans.
The limit only really affects higher earners - and for those on really high incomes, their allowance can be lower.
If you have an income of over £240,000 in a tax year, your allowance will reduce by £1 for every £2 of adjusted income above this level.
The maximum reduction is £36,000 so anyone with an income of £312,000 or more will have an annual allowance of £4,000.
Your pension annual allowance can also be reduced if you start to access your pension pot - always seek professional advice first to see how your money could be affected.
4. Reduce your Inheritance Tax burden
Inheritance Tax is paid on the estate - including property, money and possessions - of someone who has died.
The standard tax rate is 40% and is normally only charged if your estate is worth more than £325,000.
If you give away your home to your children or grandchildren, your threshold can increase to £500,000.
However, you can also give away some money or possessions each tax year without these being subject to Inheritance Tax.
Your "gift allowance" each tax year is £3,000. If you don't give it away one year, you can carry it forward for one tax year.
You can also gift up to £250 to as many individuals as you want - although not to anyone who has already benefited from your "gift allowance".
Wedding gifts can also be made - you can can give up to £5,000 to a child, £2,500 to a grandchild and £1,000 to another relative or friend.
5. Make use of Capital Gains allowance
Capital Gains Tax is charged if you sell, give away, exchange or otherwise dispose of an asset that has increased in value.
It is the "gain" you make from the asset that is taxed.
The Capital Gains tax-free allowance is currently £12,300 but it will reduce to £6,000 for the next tax year and £3,000 for the following year.
If you make a gain after selling a property that isn't your home, you pay 18% in tax as a basic-rate taxpayer, or 28% if you pay a higher rate of tax.
Gains from selling other assets are charged at 10% for basic-rate taxpayers, and 20% for higher-rate taxpayers.
6. Top up your state pension
Most people need 35 years on their National Insurance record to claim the full new state pension, and ten years to get anything at all.
Under current rules, you can buy National Insurance contributions dating back to 2006 to fill any gaps in your record and boost your retirement cash.
But after July 31, you'll only be able to top up your National Insurance record from the previous six tax years.
The deadline was previously April 5 - to coincide with the end of the current tax year - but this has just been extended.
Not everyone will benefit from purchasing National Insurance contributions, and some people can plug gaps in their record for free.
See the Gov.uk National Insurance credits page for more information.
Contact the free Future Pension Centre on 0800 731 0175 first to check if you should purchase any National Insurance contributions, or the free Pension Service on 0800 731 0469 if you're already at state pension age.
7. Claim back overpaid tax
If you've never applied for a tax refund, you can backdate a claim going back the last four tax years.
You might be eligible for a refund if you’ve been paying too much tax because you've been on the wrong tax code.
Your tax code is made up of numbers and letters and is used by HMRC to determine how much tax you should be paying each month.
If you have just one employer and earn under £100,000, your code is likely to be 1257L.
You may also be owed money back from the taxman if you haven’t applied for marriage tax allowance.
Marriage tax allowance allows eligible couples to transfer £1,260 of their personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner to cut their yearly tax bill.
Your personal allowance is the amount you can earn tax-free each tax year - the standard rate is currently £12,570 before you start paying tax.
Marriage tax allowance for the 2022/23 tax year is worth up to £252 - but if you're able to make a claim for all four previous tax years, you could get £1,242 back.
The amounts you can claim back for previous tax years are slightly less than the current tax year.
Finally, you may also be owed tax if you’ve had a PPI payout.
Most banks and lenders automatically deducted tax from PPI payouts, even though not everyone has to pay it.
When the payouts were made, banks refunded the PPI premium plus 8% in statutory interest.
The statutory interest part is taxed as savings, and most firms deducted this automatically.
But since April 2016, more people have been due some of this tax back thanks to the introduction of the personal savings allowance.
The new tax year: are taxes going up?
Millions of workers will pay more in tax after Jeremy Hunt confirmed he will keep an extended freeze on income thresholds in place.
The Income Tax personal allowance - set at £12,570 - is currently frozen until April 2028.
The personal allowance is how much you’re allowed to earn before you start paying tax.
You currently pay the basic 20% rate of Income Tax when you earn above £12,570, then the higher rate of 40% on earnings above £50,270.
The additional rate of 45% applies when you earn above £150,000 - although this threshold is being reduced to £125,140 from April 6.
The threshold for when you start paying National Insurance contributions - also £12,570 - is also currently frozen until April 2028.
Workers pay 12% in National Insurance contributions when their salary reaches £12,570, then 2% on earnings over £50,270.
The freezing of tax brackets is known as fiscal drag, which is where the income level at which taxes are collected does not increase in line with inflation or income growth - meaning people are dragged into higher tax brackets.
