Tax year-end checklist: What medics need to do before 5th April

As a doctor, it’s not always easy to keep track of your income, pensions and investments. But with the end of the tax year approaching, now is an important time to check you’re not paying more tax than you need to.

With our tax year-end checklist, you’ll have the tools to keep more of what you’ve earned and avoid losing valuable allowances that can’t be carried forward. Simply download a copy or check out our summary below.

Maximised your pension contributions up to the annual allowance?

Pension allowances tend to be one of most sought-after advice areas, which is no surprise given how complex the NHS Pension can be.

As saving into your pension is incredibly tax efficient, maximising your allowances could be a key part of your tax year-end strategy. Don’t forget you can also carry forward any unused allowance from the three previous tax years, meaning you could add more to your pension pots if necessary.

Outside of pension contributions, you can speak to us about maximising pensions for you and your spouse or setting up a limited company pension if you work privately.

Used your annual ISA allowance?

You have a personal tax-free ISA allowance of £20,000 each year to use across cash ISAs, stocks and shares ISAs, innovative finance ISAs and lifetime ISAs. This renews annually and can’t be carried over, so it really is a case of use it or lose it.

From April 2027 anyone under the age of 65 will find their contributions to cash ISAs capped at £12,000, with the remaining £8,000 available for investment through stocks and shares ISAs.

If you’re planning alongside a partner, you could have a combined allowance of £40,000.

You can also give your children or grandchildren a head start on their savings by utilising the £9,000 allowance on their Junior ISA. This doesn’t count toward your personal ISA allowance.

The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest.

Considered or declared any gift-giving?

Making use of your £3,000 annual gifting allowance (and any carry over from the previous year) can be an effective way to reduce your estate’s inheritance tax liability.

If you’re a higher earner, making charitable donations can help decrease your taxable income below the additional rate tax band, which sits at £125,140 for 2025/26. This may help you hold onto your Personal Allowance (gradually withdrawn once you earn over £100,000). Making additional pension contributions also has the same effect.

It's worth noting that if your adjusted net income is between £100,000 and £125,140, you could end up paying an effective 60% tax rate on any earnings within this bracket. That's in addition to the loss of tax-free childcare and a reduction in funded hours for under 5s.

Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change in the future.

Explored your dividends options?

If your practice is set up as a limited company, you could draw income as a business director through dividends, rather than a salary – the first £500 of which is tax-free. Dividend allowances reduce the amount of tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) required.

Dividend rates (ordinary and upper rates only) are set to rise by 2% from April 2026. You could potentially reduce your Corporation Tax, Income Tax (including dividends), and NICs by diverting your company’s pre-tax profits into a personal pension.

You can also potentially pass these profits on to your spouse or adult children if they're genuine shareholders.

Maximised your Capital Gains Tax allowance?

If you’re looking to sell any assets, such as your medical business, you can make use of your £3,000 Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowance. Like the ISA allowance, CGT only runs from tax year to tax year.

Grab a copy of the checklist

Prefer this in PDF format? Download our full tax year-end checklist.