Spring Clean Your Business Finances: 5 Tax Wins to Grab Before April

With the tax year ending on 5th April, now is an opportune time to review your finances and make sure you’re not leaving money on the table.

There are several straightforward ways to reduce your tax bill that become unavailable once the new tax year starts. For most, even implementing one or two of these moves can save cash.

Whether you’re a sole trader, run a limited company, or employ people, at least one of these will apply to your situation.

Here are five tax opportunities worth considering before April rolls around.

Top Up Your Pension Contributions

For: All business owners, particularly higher earners

Pension contributions before 5th April get you tax relief on this year’s bill. 

The annual allowance is £60,000 for most people. You can also carry forward unused allowances from the previous three years, which means if you haven’t maxed out your contributions recently, you could contribute significantly more. 

For higher-rate taxpayers, a £10,000 gross pension contribution gives £4,000 in tax relief overall.

Company Directors

If you run a limited company, your company can make pension contributions as a business expense.

A £10,000 contribution saves £2,500 in corporation tax at the 25% rate, or £1,900 at the 19% small profits rate. The company gets the deduction, you get the pension contribution, and there’s no benefit-in-kind charge to worry about.

Sole Traders and the Personal Allowance Taper

For sole traders earning between £100,000 and £125,140, pension contributions are particularly valuable.

In this income bracket, your personal allowance tapers away. Every £2 you put into your pension recovers £1 of personal allowance. Combined with the tax relief, that’s effectively 60% back.

The deadline matters. The contribution needs to be received by your pension provider before 5th April to count.

Claim Capital Allowances on Equipment

For: Any business buying equipment, vehicles, or machinery

Capital allowances let you deduct the cost of business equipment from your taxable profits. 

The Annual Investment Allowance currently sits at £1 million, which means most businesses can claim 100% of the cost in the year they buy it.

If you’ve been planning to buy new equipment, doing it before 5th April means you get the tax relief this year. Buy it on 6th April, and the relief applies to next year instead.

What Counts as Qualifying Equipment

The list is fairly broad and includes most things you’d use in your business:

• Computers, printers, and IT equipment
• Office furniture and fixtures
• Commercial vehicles like vans and lorries
• Machinery and tools specific to your trade

Cars are the main exception. You can’t use the Annual Investment Allowance for cars, though zero-emission vehicles qualify for a 100% first-year allowance through a different route.

The tax savings are straightforward. If you’re a higher-rate taxpayer buying £15,000 of equipment, that’s £6,000 back in tax relief. 

For a limited company paying 25% corporation tax, the same purchase saves £3,750. That’s real money that either stays in your business or reduces what you owe HMRC.

Check You’ve Claimed All Your Expenses

For: Everyone, but especially sole traders and those working from home

This sounds obvious, but most business owners miss deductible expenses simply because they forget to track them. The end of the tax year is a good prompt to review what you’ve spent and make sure you’ve claimed everything.

Common expenses that slip through include professional subscriptions, industry memberships, training courses, business mileage, and costs for working from home. If you operate from home, you can claim a proportion of your mortgage interest or rent, utility bills, council tax, and broadband based on business use.

For company directors who’ve paid business expenses from personal funds, you can claim these back as reimbursements. The company gets the tax deduction, and you get your money back without it counting as a taxable benefit. You just need to keep the receipts.

Quick Expense Check

• Business mileage: 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles, 25p thereafter
• Home office: Either simplified flat rate (£6/week) or actual costs based on square footage
• Professional fees: Accountancy, legal, and consultancy fees all deductible
• Training: Some courses that improve existing skills (not entirely new trades)

The key is documentation. HMRC can request evidence for any expense claim. Without receipts or invoices, your deduction gets disallowed. If you’ve lost receipts, bank statements can sometimes work as backup, but proper records are always better.

Consider Incorporation Timing

For: Sole traders and partnerships thinking about going limited

If you’ve been thinking about moving from sole trader to limited company, the timing of that decision affects which tax year gets the benefit. Incorporating now means you can start the new tax year with the more favourable company structure in place.

The main difference is how profits are taxed. As a sole trader, you pay income tax and National Insurance on all your profits above the personal allowance. 

As a limited company director, you can take a smaller salary and extract the rest as dividends, which are taxed more favourably and don’t attract National Insurance.

When Does It Make Sense?

Incorporation typically makes sense when you’re paying a higher tax rate or dealing with specific issues like Section 24 mortgage interest restrictions for landlords. 

The calculations vary depending on your personal circumstances, but generally, the tax savings start to justify the extra admin once you’re consistently in the higher rate bracket.

There are costs to weigh up. Setting up a limited company involves Companies House fees, potentially higher accountancy costs, and more administrative work. You’ll need to file annual accounts and a corporation tax return, run payroll, and maintain proper company records.

For many business owners, though, the tax savings outweigh the costs. The difference between sole trader and limited company structures can easily be several thousand pounds per year in tax saved once your profits reach a certain level. That’s typically enough to justify the extra admin and professional fees.

Prepare for Making Tax Digital (MTD)

For: Sole traders and landlords with income over £50,000 (soon £30,000)

From April 2026, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD For ITSA) becomes mandatory for sole traders and landlords with income over £50,000. That might feel like next year’s problem, but getting your systems ready now makes the transition much smoother.

MTD means quarterly digital submissions instead of an annual tax return. You’ll need HMRC-approved software to keep records and submit updates four times a year. The sooner you get comfortable with the software, the less stressful the mandatory switch will be.

Many business owners are using this tax year to test different software options while still filing under the old system. This gives you time to find something that works for your business without the pressure of mandatory deadlines.

Popular options include Xero, QuickBooks, and FreeAgent. Most offer free trials, and many accountants can recommend software that integrates well with their systems. 

The key is finding something you’ll use consistently, because quarterly submissions require up-to-date records throughout the year.

What You Need to Do

Start by choosing HMRC-approved software and getting into the habit of recording income and expenses monthly rather than leaving it until January. Many businesses find that once they’re in the rhythm, quarterly submissions take less time than the old annual scramble.

The threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028, so even if you’re not affected in the first wave, you’ll likely need to comply soon. Getting ahead of it now means you’re not learning a new system under pressure.

Don’t Leave This Until the Last Minute

hether it’s topping up your pension, buying equipment you’ve been planning anyway, or finally switching to proper bookkeeping software, at least one of these will apply to your business.

The tax year-end is simply a useful prompt to make sure you’re not paying more than you need to.

Double Point‘s chartered accountants help business owners make the most of these opportunities every year. We specialise in practical tax planning that saves you money.

Book a free consultation with us to review your situation before April and make sure you’re not leaving money on the table.