Year End Tax Review 2009/2010 Contents Lead articles The year ahead... This year, next year Pension hit Employees Too much NIC NIC and pensions Company cars Tax-free benefits Business - General Time to incorporate? His and hers Family bonus Profit and loss Show me the money Can't pay, won't pay? Turning back the clock Business - VAT Standard VAT or flat VAT? VAT goes down - must come up? European revolution A good start for VAT Happy returns? Investments Top-up savings Rainy day money Capital Gains Gains favoured Splitting gains A place in the country Holiday lets end Families Family fortunes Where there's a Will Credits and debits Piggy banks Still trustworthy? Administration Penalty shoot-out Paperwork, paperwork Pay tax later Opportunity knocks again Charity Give and save Non-Domiciled People Home and away Interest Interesting times

Splitting gains Everyone has an annual exemption for CGT (£10,100), but you only use it if you dispose of something. That means that making a gain of £50,000 in five years' time is likely to cost you a lot in CGT, but if you can split it up into chunks of £10,000 each year you will pay none. If you have a portfolio of investments, it is common for your investment manager to sell some near the end of the tax year to trigger capital gains, reinvesting the proceeds in something else. There is a cost in commission, but the tax saving is almost certainly much greater. It's important to make sure that the manager knows if you have realised gains on other assets - if you have used up your tax-free allowance elsewhere, the switching plan won't save you tax. Action Point! Are you taking full advantage of the CGT exemption?