Income from some investments is tax-free (that is, there is no income tax to pay). All other investment income is taxable. With more and more investments, tax is deducted from the income before it is paid to you. There is no further tax to pay on such income unless you pay tax at the higher rate. If you should have paid less tax than was deducted, you may be able to get a refund.

Interest paid after deduction of tax

Interest on most kinds of savings is now normally paid after tax has been deducted from it. This applies to building society accounts, bank accounts, annuities (other than pension annuities) local authority loans and bonds and National Savings & Investments (NS&I) fixed rate savings bonds.

On these types of interest, tax is deducted at 20 per cent from the gross income before handing it over to you. There is no further tax bill if you pay tax at the basic rate on your income – which is the case for the vast majority of taxpayers. If you pay tax at the higher rate, there will be extra tax to pay on this income (see below). If your income is too low to pay tax or you pay tax on the rest of your income at the starting rate of 10 per cent only, you can reclaim all or some of the tax which has been deducted.

The savings income is treated as an upper slice of your income. This means it does not reduce the amount of earnings or other income that can be taxed at the starting rate.

Higher rate tax on income paid after deduction of tax

If you get interest after tax has been deducted and pay tax at the higher rate of 40 per cent, there will be a further tax bill to pay. The higher rate tax will be collected by the Revenue in one of two ways:

  • by increasing the amount of tax you pay on your earnings through PAYE
  • through the payments you have to make in January and July under the self assessment system.

Grossing-up: Too much tax deducted?

If too much tax has been deducted from your interest, the excess can be claimed back. This would happen if the rest of your income is below the level at which you pay tax or you pay tax at the lower rate of 10 per cent only on the rest of your income – as the second example overleaf shows.

Not a taxpayer?

If your income is too low to pay tax, you can arrange with the bank or building society to be paid interest without deduction of tax. Fill in form R85 which is available from banks, building societies and post offices, as well as from tax offices and www.hmrc.gov.uk. Also see Revenue leaflet IR111 Bank and Building Society Interest – Are You Paying Tax When You Don’t Need To? or www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxback. Once made, the declaration runs indefinitely, so remember to review it if your circumstances change (for example, on the death of a spouse). There are hefty penalties for making a false declaration.

Arranging for interest to be paid without deduction of tax not only saves you claiming back the tax which has been deducted, you also get the money much earlier. But not all banks and building societies can manage to pay half the interest without tax deducted where only one joint holder is a non-taxpayer.

Offshore bank accounts

Interest from UK banks and building societies is usually paid with tax deducted. But, if you have an account based in, say, the Channel Islands, Isle of Man or elsewhere offshore, the interest is generally paid gross. If you are a UK resident, you must nevertheless declare this interest and pay any tax due.

Shariah-compliant products

Alternative financial products, where the return is in the form of a share of profits or a mark-up paid at a future date, have been developed to comply with Shariah law. The return on these is treated in the same way for tax as interest.

Gilt-edged stock

Since 6 April 1998, interest on all British government stocks (gilts) is usually paid gross – i.e. without any tax already deducted. But, if interest you started to receive before 6 April 1998 was originally paid net, it will continue to be paid with tax at 20 per cent already deducted unless you ask to be paid gross instead. Similarly, if you are receiving interest gross, you can ask to receive interest net of tax. To change the way your interest is taxed complete the appropriate form from Computershare (Tel: 0870 703 0143 www.computershare.com).

Corporate bonds

Interest from bonds listed on a stock exchange is paid gross (without any tax deducted).

Bond-based unit trusts

Unit trusts and open-ended investment companies (oeics) that invest wholly or mainly in gilts and/or corporate bonds pay ‘income distributions’. They are taxed like other savings income and paid with 20 per cent tax deducted. Distributions from share-based unit trusts are taxed differently.

Shares and unit trusts

Dividends from UK companies and distributions from share-based unit trusts are paid with a tax credit – the amount is given on the tax voucher which comes with the dividend or distribution. The tax credit is 10 per cent of the gross amount.

The tax on the grossed-up amount of dividends and distributions is 10 per cent for starting rate and basic rate taxpayers. Since this is the same amount as the tax credit, they need pay nothing extra. Note that the 10 per cent tax credit does not eat up any of your starting rate band: you can still have up to £2,230 of other income taxed at the 10 per cent starting rate in 2007–8.

If you pay tax at the higher rate, there is extra tax to pay. Higher rate taxpayers pay tax on the grossed-up amount of dividends and distributions at 32.5 per cent. So on a net dividend of £80, your total tax bill is 32.5 per cent of the grossed-up amount of £88.89 5 £28.89. Since you have a tax credit of £8.89, the higher rate tax due is £28.89 2 £8.89 5 £20. That leaves you with £80 2 £20 5 £60 after paying the higher rate tax.

The tax credit cannot be claimed back if the income is not taxable in your hands. So if your income is too low to pay tax you cannot claim it back. This means that if most or all of your income is dividends and distributions, you might not get the full value of your tax allowance.

From 2008–9, dividends you receive from foreign companies will be taxed in the same way as UK dividends provided you own less than 10 per cent of the company concerned and your total foreign dividends do not come to more than £5,000 a year.

Real estate investment trusts

Investment trusts are companies, quoted on a stock exchange, whose business is running an investment fund. You invest by buying shares in the fund and, in general, your investment is taxed in the same way as any other shares would be.

However, from 1 January 2007, a new type of investment trust called a real estate investment trust (REIT) has become available. A REIT is a company that invests mainly in a portfolio of rented commercial and/or residential properties. Provided various rules are met, including that at least 90 per cent of all the profits received by the REIT are distributed to shareholders, the REIT pays no tax on the profits.

As an investor, you pay tax on your REIT income at the same rate that you would if you invested direct in rental property. The REIT pays out dividends – called property income distributions – with tax at the basic rate (22 per cent in 2007–8) deducted. If you are a non-taxpayer, you can claim this back. If you are a starting-rate taxpayer you can claim back part of the tax. Higher-rate taxpayers have extra tax to pay.

Investing for capital gains