Get a step ahead of the taxman

With spring arriving, tax may be the last thing on your mind. However, with a bit of thoughtful and intelligent planning you can make sure you don’t end up paying more tax than you have to. Matthew Partridge looks at the best ways to save tax-free.

With spring arriving, tax may be thelast thing on your mind. However, with a bit of thoughtful and intelligent planning you can make sure you don't end up paying more tax than you have to.

There are a variety of tax allowances available to encourage certain behaviour, such as saving and certain types of investment. However, with the end of the tax year (2013/14) on 5 April, time is running out for you to take advantage of them. At the same time, the government has tightened up some of the rules surrounding them, making one popular strategy impossible.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri