How much can you save tax-free?
Whatever you’re saving for, it pays to know how you can really make the most of your hard-earned cash.
Your Personal Savings Allowance, available to most savers, subject to tax status, is designed to give you a little more for your money.
What is a Personal Savings Allowance (PSA)?
Your Personal Savings Allowance is the amount your savings account can earn in tax-free interest each tax year (between 6 April and 5 April).
Savings income includes interest from:
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Bank and Building Society accounts
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Accounts with providers like Credit Unions or National Savings and Investments
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Interest distributions (but not dividend distributions) from authorised unit trusts, open-ended investment companies and investment trusts
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Income from government or company bonds
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Most types of purchased Life Annuity payments
It’s worth noting that interest from Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) does not count towards your Personal Savings Allowance because these accounts are already tax-free!
How much will your allowance be?
Your amount of your allowance depends on the type of taxpayer you are:
- Basic rate taxpayer can earn up to £1,000 in tax-free interest each year
- Higher rate taxpayer can earn up to £500 in tax-free interest each year
- Additional rate taxpayer are not eligible for a personal savings allowance.
What to do now
This is the easy bit! You don’t need to do anything at all to claim your Personal Savings Allowance (except of course, make sure you have a savings account in the first place).
The interest on your savings will be automatically paid without tax deducted.
Please note: if you exceed your Personal Savings Allowance you may need to pay tax on the interest you earn. HMRC will normally collect the tax owed by changing your tax code.