UK Tax Allowances 2025/26–2026/27: Every Allowance in One Place

The allowance stack, at a glance

The UK tax system hands every taxpayer a stack of separate allowances — amounts you can save, earn, gift, or gain each year before any tax is due. Most people use one or two and never hear about the rest. This hub lists every major allowance in one place, with the headline figure and a link to our full guide on each. The figures below are the ones verified in each linked guide against HMRC and gov.uk sources; the linked guide is always the authoritative version, with the mechanics, edge cases and worked examples.

Allowance	Headline figure	Full guide
ISA allowance	£20,000 a year	ISA allowance guide
Lifetime ISA	£4,000 a year + 25% bonus	Lifetime ISA guide
Marriage Allowance	£1,260 transfer, up to £252 saved	Marriage Allowance guide
Personal Savings Allowance	£1,000 / £500 / £0 by tax band	PSA guide
Dividend Allowance	£500	Dividend Allowance guide
CGT Annual Exempt Amount	£3,000	CGT exemption guide
Child Benefit (HICBC)	£60,000–£80,000 taper	HICBC guide
Pension Annual Allowance	£60,000	Pension allowance guide
Trading & Property Allowances	£1,000 each	Trading & property guide

Saving and investing allowances

The ISA allowance is the broadest shelter in the stack: £20,000 per tax year that you can split as you choose across cash ISAs, stocks and shares ISAs, innovative finance ISAs and the Lifetime ISA. Interest, dividends and gains inside an ISA are tax-free and never touch your other allowances. If you only ever read one allowance guide, make it this one: The UK ISA Allowance Explained →

The Lifetime ISA sits inside your ISA allowance but earns a government top-up: pay in up to £4,000 a year until you're 50 and the government adds a 25% bonus — up to £1,000 a year — for a first home or retirement. It comes with real strings attached (the withdrawal penalty can claw back more than the bonus), which the full guide walks through: The Lifetime ISA Explained →

The Personal Savings Allowance covers interest earned outside ISAs: basic-rate taxpayers can earn £1,000 of savings interest tax-free, higher-rate taxpayers £500, and additional-rate taxpayers nothing. Which band you sit in decides whether an ISA or an ordinary savings account pays you more after tax — a comparison our savings guides return to often: The Personal Savings Allowance Explained →

Run your own numbers across these three with the Savings Calculator →.

Investment income and gains

The Dividend Allowance is now one of the smallest in the stack: £500 of dividend income tax-free, with anything above taxed at rates that step up with your income tax band. If you hold shares outside an ISA or pay yourself dividends from a company, the full guide covers the rates and the interaction with your other income: The UK Dividend Allowance Explained →

The Capital Gains Tax Annual Exempt Amount lets you realise £3,000 of gains each tax year before CGT applies (£1,500 for trusts). Above that, the rate depends on your income tax band and what you sold. The guide covers the rates, reporting deadlines and the spouse-transfer planning that legitimately doubles a couple's exemption: The CGT Annual Exemption Explained →

Family and household

Marriage Allowance lets the lower earner in a marriage or civil partnership transfer £1,260 of their Personal Allowance to their partner, saving up to £252 a year — and it can be backdated. The catch is an eligibility line drawn at the basic-rate band, which the guide maps precisely: Marriage Allowance Explained →

The High Income Child Benefit Charge is the allowance stack's trap door rather than a gift: once the higher earner in a household passes £60,000, Child Benefit is progressively clawed back, disappearing entirely at £80,000. If your salary sits anywhere near that band, the guide's worked examples show what each pay rise actually costs: The HICBC Explained →

Check what a salary change does to your take-home — including across the £50,270 higher-rate threshold — with the Take-Home Pay Calculator →.

Pensions and side income

The Pension Annual Allowance caps tax-relieved pension saving at £60,000 a year across all your private pensions together. High earners face a taper that can cut it substantially, and unused allowance can sometimes be carried forward from the previous three years — both covered in the full guide: The Pension Annual Allowance Explained →

The Trading and Property Allowances are the stack's best-kept secret for side income: up to £1,000 of trading income (selling, freelancing, casual services) and up to £1,000 of property income each tax year, tax-free and with no need to tell HMRC when you're under the line. Have both kinds of income? You get both allowances. The guide covers full versus partial relief and when a tax return is still required: The £1,000 Trading and Property Allowances Explained →

If your side income has crossed the £1,000 line, our news desk covered when additional income means telling HMRC.

How the allowances fit together

Three practical points that the individual guides expand on:

Allowances stack; they don't overlap. The ISA allowance, Personal Savings Allowance, Dividend Allowance and CGT exemption are all separate pots. A basic-rate taxpayer can shelter £20,000 in an ISA and earn £1,000 of outside-ISA interest and take £500 in dividends and realise £3,000 in gains in the same year, all without tax.

Most allowances reset on 6 April and don't carry over. Unused ISA allowance is gone at midnight on 5 April; so are the savings, dividend and CGT amounts. The main exception is the pension annual allowance's carry-forward, which is exactly why it has its own guide.

Thresholds, not cliffs — except when they are cliffs. Most of the stack tapers or steps gently, but the HICBC taper and the Lifetime ISA withdrawal penalty behave more like trap doors. The two guides above exist because those are the ones that catch people.

Frequently asked questions

Which allowances renew every tax year?

All of the ones on this page reset on 6 April: ISA (£20,000), LISA (£4,000 within it), Personal Savings Allowance, Dividend Allowance (£500), CGT exemption (£3,000), the trading and property allowances (£1,000 each), and the pension annual allowance (£60,000, with limited carry-forward). Marriage Allowance renews automatically once claimed until you cancel it.

Do I need to claim these allowances?

Most apply automatically — the Personal Savings Allowance, Dividend Allowance and CGT exemption are applied when tax is worked out, and the trading/property allowances simply mean HMRC doesn't need to hear about income under £1,000. Marriage Allowance must be actively claimed by the lower earner, and a Lifetime ISA must be opened before age 40.

Where do the figures on this page come from?

Each figure is taken from our full guide on that allowance, where it is verified against HMRC and gov.uk source text. Follow the link on any allowance for the sourced version with worked examples — the individual guide is always the authoritative page.