Q. Am I able to carry forward any of my unused tax allowances from 2018/19?

A. In some instances, yes, you are able to carry forward rather than lose allowances.

On Inheritance Tax (IHT), individuals can give up to £3,000 away per tax year which falls outside their estate for the purposes of calculating IHT. This allowance can be carried forward by one year as long as the current year’s allowance is fully used.

On Pension contributions, the annual tax-free allowance to UK pension schemes from all sources, including employer contributions, is £40,000 for most people. Contributions above this will suffer a tax charge.

If you have not used your full allowance for last year or the two tax years prior to that, you may be eligible to carry these allowances forward. If you want to top up a National Insurance shortfall from previous years for the sake of your State Pension, you can do so for any of the previous six tax years.

On Marriage allowance, a married couple is allowed to transfer a proportion of unused tax allowance to the partner who has less income, provided they are a basic-rate taxpayer. It was introduced in April, 2015, and can be backdated for up to a maximum of four years.

ISAs are a popular choice for investors as they don’t attract Income Tax on interest or Capital Gains Tax on investment gain. The limit for the current tax year is £20,000 and £4,368 for a Junior ISA. This is a use-it-or-lose-it allowance and can’t be carried forward if you didn’t use it all.