Now that spring is in full swing, and we’ve entered a new tax year, it’s the perfect time to take a look at your GIA portfolio to create a watertight plan that can support your investment strategy until the end of the tax year. But what measures should you take to ensure that you’re on the right track with your wealth management?
With the new tax year beginning on the 6th of April, it can be a great time to make sure that your General Investment Account (GIA) is as efficient as possible when it comes to taxation and maximising your ability to profit from your investments.
Many factors can go into the effective management of GIAs, so what considerations should you add to your checklist for the new tax deadlines? Let’s take a deeper look at the nine essential reassessment points you should keep in mind before the beginning of a new tax year:
1. Make the most of your CGT exemption
At present, the capital gains tax (CGT) exemption stands at £3,000 per individual. While this amount may seem a little restrictive for many people, it’s certainly worth investigating whether you have any unrealised gains that could be crystallised within your allowance.
Because unused exemptions can’t be carried forward, now is a great time to explore your earnings and to check whether you can make the most of any tax efficiency throughout the tax year.
2. Look to split your gains
When you open an investment account, you can look ahead to how you can use changes in tax years to your advantage.
Because CGT exemptions are £3,000 per tax year, it’s entirely possible to split your withdrawals either side of the April deadline to make the most of your tax efficiency.
As an example, if you withdrew £6,000 in profit on 5th April, you could be liable to pay CGT on any amount above your remaining allowance for that year. However, if you withdrew £3,000 on 5th April and a further £3,000 on 6th April (when the new tax year begins), you could use each year’s allowance in turn and potentially pay no CGT on either withdrawal.
It’s worth bearing in mind that the second withdrawal would immediately use up your new tax year’s allowance, meaning you wouldn’t have it available again until the following April.
Note: This strategy applies to GIA investments only. Gains within an ISA or SIPP are not subject to CGT.
3. Harvest your capital losses
If you’ve found that you have made a loss on an investment, you can use your capital losses to lower the amount of CGT you owe on other gains.
With this in mind, it can really pay for you to review your underperforming equities. By crystallising your losses before the 5th April, you can offset the gains you’ve made elsewhere on your investments over the past year.
4. Claim historic losses
The end of the tax year is also a good time to use the losses you’ve made from the previous tax year, or even earlier. By getting in early on keeping this in mind, you can work more strategically to get the most out of your GIA for the year ahead.
At present, the HMRC allows you to make claims on the losses you’ve made in the past, but you must make your claim no later than four years after the end of the tax year in which the loss took place. With this in mind, it’s worth checking your records for unclaimed losses in the past to help offset your CGT obligations.
5. Use your dividend allowance
Although the £500 dividend allowance for the 2026/27 tax year is a little limiting, it’s certainly worth keeping your limits in mind.
At present, basic rate taxpayers would incur an 8.75% tax obligation for dividends beyond £500, while higher and additional rate taxpayers would be looking at a 33.75% and 39.35% charge, respectively.
Take a look at the dividends you’ve received, and shape your strategy around payments beyond the threshold with a focus on rebalancing into more growth-focused or income-sheltered holdings.
6. Prepare for dividend tax hikes
It’s also very important to keep in mind that dividend tax rates will rise to 10.75% for basic-rate taxpayers and 35.75% for higher-rate taxpayers beginning in the 2026/27 tax year.
This means that if you’re planning on using dividend-focused investments in your GIA portfolio, it’s never been more important to time your returns accordingly.
7. Check your personal savings allowances
Thanks to your annual personal savings allowance, you can earn £1,000 tax-free on interest from bonds and cash holdings if you’re a basic-rate taxpayer and £500 if you’re a higher-rate taxpayer.
This means that if your GIA holds cash or bonds generating interest, keep an eye on your thresholds and make adjustments if you’re incurring tax on your earnings.
It’s also important to note that additional-rate taxpayers receive no personal savings allowance at all, so you should also keep your annual earnings in mind when holding bonds.
8. See if you can use a spouse or civil partner’s allowance
With the new tax year already here, it’s also worth checking whether your partner has unused CGT or dividend allowances that you may be able to make use of over the months ahead.
At present, transfers between spouses and civil partners don’t incur capital gains tax. This means that gifting GIA assets to lower or non-taxpaying partners can help to lower your household’s overall tax bill.
9. Prepare for self-assessment
Although the self-assessment tax return deadline runs until the 31st January, the end of the tax year is the ideal time for gathering your GIA tax certificate to accurately document your gains, losses, dividends, and interest over the tax year to avoid scrambling for the information you need come the winter months.
Making your GIA tax efficient
Although General Investment Accounts don’t have quite the same levels of tax efficiency as ISAs, there are plenty of ways to protect your earnings within GIAs effectively, helping you to make the most of the money you make in your portfolios.
By exploring your annual allowances, you can plan to maximise the potential of your tax-free withdrawals and offset your losses for better CGT advantages, helping to provide peace of mind that your GIA is working for you and your financial goals.
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