Every UK tax-free allowance in one place, and how to claim the ones you're missing.
Tax-free allowances are the most powerful tool in your personal tax planning. They can save you hundreds or even thousands of pounds a year, yet most people only know about the Personal Allowance — and many never use the others.
The 2025/26 tax year (which runs from 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026) has some generous allowances that are easy to miss. This guide covers them all, in order of importance.
Everyone gets this. It's the amount you can earn tax-free each year. It's built into your tax code. If you're a basic-rate taxpayer, misuse of this allowance costs you 20% in tax; for a higher-rate taxpayer, 40%.
If you're married or in a civil partnership, and one of you earns less than the Personal Allowance, you can transfer up to 10% of your allowance to your partner. That's £1,260 of extra tax-free income, worth up to £252 at basic rate, or £504 if your partner is a higher-rate taxpayer but earns under £50,270.
To be eligible:
Claim online via gov.uk. It takes minutes and can backdate four years. That's up to £1,008 in retroactive tax relief.
If you do casual or freelance work, selling goods or offering services, you can earn up to £1,000 a year without paying tax. This is the Trading Allowance.
It covers things like:
This is a huge opportunity for the side-hustle economy — make sure you're using it.
Similar to the Trading Allowance, but for property income. You can earn up to £1,000 a year from property-related income without paying tax. This includes things like letting a room occasionally, renting parking space, or other small rental income.
Interest on savings is tax-free up to:
If you earn over the threshold on interest, you'll pay tax at your marginal rate (20%/40%/45%). But many people don't realise this allowance exists — if you have a cash ISA, those savings don't count as taxable income at all, so it's best to use your ISA allowance first.
From April 2024, the first £500 in dividend income is tax-free. This is down from £1,000 in 2023/24, and was £2,000 in 2022/23. The reduction makes it even more important to plan how you draw income from a limited company.
If you have a lodger in your own home, the first £7,500 of rent is completely tax-free. This is more generous than the property allowance and is worth knowing about.
If your rental income is above £7,500, you can choose to deduct expenses instead. The relief is automatic — you don't need to claim it, but you can elect out if expenses would be more generous.
For 2025/26, the CGT annual exempt amount is £3,000 (down from £12,300 in 2022/23). This means you can sell investments, second properties, or other assets and pocket up to £3,000 in gains each year without paying tax.
Use it or lose it — consider realising gains up to £3,000 before 5 April 2026. See our Capital Gains Tax guide for details.
Pension contributions attract tax relief, meaning you can add up to £60,000 a year (2025/26) to your pension and effectively reduce your taxable income. Basic-rate taxpayers effectively get 20% back from HMRC; higher-rate taxpayers 40%.
If you have unused allowance from the previous three years, you can carry it forward. This is the single most valuable tax-free allowance for higher earners.
The ISA subscription limit for 2025/26 remains £20,000. That's how much you can put into ISAs (across Cash ISAs, Stocks & Shares ISAs, Innovative Finance ISAs and Lifetime ISAs — £4,000 max for LISA).
All interest and capital growth inside an ISA is completely tax-free. Over time, this can be massive. Read our full ISA guide for strategy ideas.
Most people are aware of the Personal Allowance but forget about the others. To check if you're using all of them, ask:
Some allowances are automatic (Personal Allowance, ISA, savings allowance). Others need a claim: