End of the tax year is nigh, so sort your ISAs

COMMENT

I KNOW that our minds are full of other things at the moment but it is worth still mentioning that we are almost at the end of the tax year.

It means that time is running out for those of us who still have unused pension and ISA allowances, or who want to take advantage of Capital Gains Tax allowances.

There is usually a last-minute rush to get these things done and this year will be no different, particularly since so many of us won’t have given it a minute’s thought in recent weeks.

For 2019-20 tax year, which ends on April 5, (that’s just over two weeks away), the ISA allowance is £20,000.

ISAs are really tax efficient since you don’t have to pay tax on the gains you make from money that you put in it.

Some investors have built up significant amounts of money in their ISAs because they have invested the maximum every year, and that can bring with it a substantial tax saving.

If you have money sitting in an ordinary bank account then you could consider a switch to a cash ISA before the end of the year.

Don’t move from a bank account that is paying a high rate of interest to an ISA that is paying next to nothing.

If you do then any tax savings will be lost because you could receive much less interest at the end of the year.

If you want something more adventurous than cash then you could invest in a stocks and shares ISA.

As you’ll read in the answer to our reader’s question today, the markets are a bit volatile at the moment and you need a bit of nerve if you’re going to invest in stocks and shares.

You also need to make sure that you won’t need the money that you’re investing for a good few years.

Having said that, the markets are a good deal lower now than they were a couple of weeks ago and many investors will see this as a buying opportunity.