Chartered/Personal accountant help

[Roger Belly]

I'm in a situation where I would like to know if I am managing my money wisely and utilising tax allowances to their full extent. Hence, I'd like to enlist someone to look over my finances. I'm not exactly minted, don't run my own company, am strictly PAYE and have never filled in a tax return form.

I think it's likely that I may not get full benefits from listing outside help but I'd still like to find out. Can someone recommend where to start and what I should be looking for? Do any accountants run a first consulation free scheme like some solicitors?

Yours confusedly,
RB.

[cjanderson]

hmm, not sure what you are after, but i don't think a chartered accountant that you pay per hour will help.

there are lots of financial forums where you can get a sort of money makeover, even a thread here would get you advice.

would be 2 main areas to cover

1) money you save every month - is it in the best place?
2) money you spend every month - any ways of cutting costs (ie cheaper energy suppliers or just cutting back on stuff)

for someone single most tax advice would be
1) pay off any debts that have a high interest rate
2) start a pension (good if work contributes)
3) fill a cash isa before other savings
4) check you are on cheap deals for most things.

and thats £250 thanks :D

[Roger Belly]

Cheque's in the post CJ!

I'm OK with dealing with debt and bills. I'm looking for advice regarding if there is anything I can do to utilise my wife's (unemployed) and daughters tax allowance, what assets could I potentially purchase and give them as gifts, CGT tax on shares I have in the company that I work for (business asset? non-business asset?). That sort of stuff - as it stands, I'm the only "bread winner" and I'm sure we could be making our money work a bit harder.

[cjanderson]

I'm assuming though your not a 40% tax payer as you mention not filling in any tax forms ever, which you would do if you earned at 40% and had any bank interest?

as at that level, the benefits of doing stuff is quite small.

you can stick all savings in the wifes name to use up her 5k allowance (though to get 5k of interest in a year would mean having £200k or so of savings :eek: )

you can't use your daughters tax allowance, any interest she earns over £100 is assumed to be your income.

Gifts? well you can give your wife anything you like tax free. And daughter as well, as long as you don't die within 7 years.

Shares in the company you work for wouldn't be a business asset as such (as its not YOUR business), try and put them in an isa maybe? but you get 8k or so of CGT allowance each year so you can time the sale/give them to your wife to sell to use her CGT. Usually when you get company shares (options or SAYE schemes) they give you a letter explaining the tax position.

so if you have 100k or so of assets then seeing an IFA may be useful to show where best to invest money. the other tax questions could be asked on a tax discussion board and an answer got quite easily.