Tax tip: Personal end-of-year planning

The individual savings account (ISA) allowance is still £20 000 and is available to each UK resident family member. Tax savings using ISAs now tend to be the preserve of investors with interest in excess of the savings allowance (£1 000 for basic rate taxpayers and £500 for higher rate taxpayers). But with interest rates rising in the past couple of years these remain useful options.

Junior ISAs for the under 18s are also available with an annual investment limit of £9 000 per child. These can be settled by parents without worrying about the parental settlement rules.

The lifetime ISA was introduced in 2017 to help individuals between the ages of 18 and 40 to save either for their first home or towards their retirement. The government adds a 25% tax-free bonus on deposits up to £4 000 a year in a lifetime ISA. No other ISA...