This article is for general guidance only and is not financial or professional advice. Any links are for your own information, and do not constitute any form of recommendation by Saga. You should not solely rely on this information to make any decisions, and consider seeking independent professional advice. All figures and information in this article are correct at the time of publishing, but laws, entitlements, tax treatments and allowances may change in the future.
March means the end of the 2024/25 tax year is coming round quickly. Now’s your last chance to fill up or make use of this year’s allowances. March is also a great time to map out your holidays for 2025 and to organise other financial admin. With this in mind, here are our suggestions for simple financial jobs to get done in March.
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The 2024/25 tax year ends on 5 April 2025. So if you want to make the most of this year’s reliefs and allowances, you’ll need to get cracking.
Everyone gets an ISA allowance of £20,000 each tax year. And, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it as you can’t carry any allowance over to the next tax year. If you’re in a trusting relationship, don’t forget your partner’s allowance. By planning together, you can pay in up to £40,000 into ISAs between you and shelter that money from tax.
If your loved ones are likely to pay inheritance tax when you die, you might want to consider making the most of your gifting allowances each year too. You can give away £3,000 each year without it being counted for IHT.
This can be given to one person or split between several people. Unused allowance can be carried over for one tax year. That means, if you didn’t use your allowance last year, you can give away up to £6,000 (or £12,000 between couples) before 6th April.
If you’ve got any family weddings on the horizon bear in mind that you can also give £5,000 to a child or £2,500 to a grandchild in the tax year they get married. Rachel Wyatt, a chartered financial planner at Arbuthnot Latham, says: “Lifetime gifting is a valuable tool for reducing your taxable estate, but it’s important to act before the end of the tax year. Gifts above the annual exemption are IHT-free if you survive seven years.”
If you’ve lived abroad or taken time out of work for any reason, you may be behind on National Insurance contributions. You need at least 35 full years of qualifying national insurance contributions to get the full state pension. Right now, there’s a chance to backfill National Insurance contributions going back almost as far as 20 years.
Usually you can only top up the previous six tax years. This opportunity closes on 5 April, so act quickly if you want to boost your NI record. It may not be worth topping up – it depends if you are on track to receive the full state pension.
You can check your record and see if you have any gaps using a free government service.
You can generally pay up to £60,000 into a pension each tax year (including tax relief), or as much as you earn in that year – whichever is lower. You’ll get tax relief on those contributions. Having a decent pension increases financial security in retirement.
We explain more here on how much you need for a comfortable retirement. If you have flexibly accessed your pension, the annual allowance might be lower than £60,000.
Other tax breaks to use before the end of the tax year are the annual allowances for capital gains, dividends, renting a room, the Personal Savings Allowance and Marriage Allowance.
Also make sure you have accessed any benefits offered by your workplace or employer, such as healthcare, dental benefits or cycle-to-work schemes – especially if they have a yearly cap.
It’s worth checking what counts as “year end” for these benefits, as it could be the UK tax year, the calendar year, your company’s financial year or the anniversary of when the policy started.
Free Wills Month takes place in March, giving you the opportunity to have a will either written or updated by a solicitor free of charge. You must be over the age of 55 to benefit. The campaign is run as a joint venture between multiple charities.
You’re under no obligation to leave a gift in your will to a charity, but they hope you will use it as an opportunity to support a favourite cause. Only 27% of people say they have considered gifting to a charity in their will, according to figures from Hospice UK, which supports 200 hospices nationwide.
You can register your interest before the start of March at the Free Wills Month website.
We’re almost a quarter of the way through 2025, so now could be a good time to review any subscriptions or financial commitments. Perhaps you signed up to a gym as a New Year resolution but aren’t going as much as you thought?
Maybe you signed up to a streaming service but have watched everything you’re interested in? If you signed up for a service offering a three-month trial at the beginning of the year, you'll be coming close to the renewal date. Make sure to cancel before you are charged if you no longer want it.
The average person spends £58 a month on subscriptions, says debt advice company UK Debt Expert. Its subscriptions savings calculator can help remind you of subscriptions you have and how much you could save by cancelling ones you no longer need.
Easter is round the corner and summer will be here before you know it. Now is a good time to get ahead and plan your holidays for 2025 – especially if you have received a bonus in March and have some money to play with.
You may even want to book a last-minute trip for March. It can be a good month to travel as it’s off-peak and you’ll beat the summer heat and crowds. Look out for last-minute deals by tour operators or airlines.
Consider a group travel tour if you don’t want to travel alone, or if you want to share your interests with like-minded people. If you have an annual travel insurance policy, check when it expires and whether you need to take out a new policy before upcoming trips.
Discover 20 simple, practical steps to ensure you pay less tax on your money.
You could be missing out on thousands in free cash. Here is how to use your allowances before you lose them.
If you’re entitled to pension credit, you can also unlock other cost of living help.
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