Venture Capital Trusts

[BrandNewCUKUser]

Hi BrandNewCUKUser,

VCTs will not help you with loss of personal allowance I am afraid. The way the tax saving works is like a rebate after working out your income tax. So if you earn 120k, work out the income tax you paid and divide it by 0.3. This will give you the maximum amount that it is worth putting into VCTs. But remember to not include the 10% tax credit in your income tax - there is no way I know of getting this back. You should also be careful if you want to make a personal pension contribution, as you cannot claim the same tax relief more than once! The various on-line tax calculators all get this wrong - even the HMRC self assessment one.

Ah OK. I was hoping they'd calculate any changes to the personal tax allowance based on your net tax payment i.e. after any personal pension (not that I have any - I contribute directly from the company) or VCT contributions.

Thanks for the tips on funds. I've seen the solar one you mentioned but might hold on to see what else comes out later on in the year.

I have my pension with H-L and am quite happy with that so might go with them. Although I've found this firm on the internet who seem a bit cheaper. Clubfinance Discount Broker for investments, insurance and mortgages Homepage Anyone used them?

BrandNewCUKUser

[tangent]

ClubFinance do look good, but I have no experience of them. For VCTs, all the broker does is put there name on the form you fill in and send it on, so go with the cheapest!

[BrandNewCUKUser]

ClubFinance do look good, but I have no experience of them. For VCTs, all the broker does is put there name on the form you fill in and send it on, so go with the cheapest!

Yep, they don't seem to offer everything that H&L do but where they overlap I guess I'll go with them.

Cheers,

BrandNewCUKUser