Martin’s Memo
Tax Year End 2017/18
With the financial industry approaching one of its busiest times of the year, Conçerva would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the various allowances available to you before the end of the tax year. As with any deadline, financial companies will begin to experience high levels of demand as the window closes and at Conçerva we recommend that you use any relevant allowances in good time to avoid any potential issues.
ISA allowances not utilised by 5th April 2018 will be permanently lost and the potential to place £20,000 (or £4,128 for Junior ISAs) into this tax efficient investment will be gone. Similarly, if you fail to take advantage of your Annual Exemption for Capital Gains Tax purposes this opportunity will be forfeited. It is possible to realise gains up to £11,300 without incurring a tax charge.
In addition to utilising the above allowances, we recommend maximising contributions into your pension prior to 5th April 2018 if you have the means to do so. The current maximum that an individual can pay into a pension is £40,000 gross, dependent on their relevant income, but if you have income over £150,000 this will begin to reduce. This is a technical area and if this is relevant to you please contact your Conçerva adviser for further information on this point.
As part of our ongoing service Conçerva aims to ensure that you do not miss the chance to benefit from these opportunities and if you are unsure about whether or not you have utilised any of these allowances please do let us know and we will be more than happy to assist you.
Staff Matters
- Recently Liam Taylor, a member of our Paraplanning team, sat the final exam necessary to achieve his Diploma in Financial Planning. The results came out last week and we are happy to congratulate him on passing.
- He is not resting on his laurels and has already registered himself for his next exam!
- Liam has also recently been involved in a local five aside tournament where he was joined by Martyn Mulligan. Both players suffered early exits from the Business Cup but helped to raise money for local charities in the process
Statistical Information
| Last Month | This Month | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPI | 3.0% | 3.0% | +0.0% |
| RPI | 4.1% | 4.0% | -0.1% |
The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures have recorded no change to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) which has remained at 3.0%. The Retail Prices Index (RPI), however, has fallen to 4.0% over the same period.
The fact that the CPI has remained unchanged suggests that the price changes of the main groups of goods and services that are monitored to make up this statistic have all moved to balance each other out.
Motor fuel price increases have slowed and provided the largest downward contribution to the CPI measure of inflation. The food and non-alcoholic drink group also pushed inflation down during the period.
These moves were offset for the most part by prices for recreational and cultural goods and services, admission prices to attractions in particular, falling by less than they had done in the same month this time last year.
| Dec 2017 | Feb 2018 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Rate | 0.50% | 0.50% | +0.00% |
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met for the first time this year last month. The result of their discussions saw the Base Rate remain unchanged at 0.50%
The MPC is next due to meet on 22nd March.
Statistical Information
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