There are so many things that could affect your tax bill. Not all of these will be relevant to you but to help you get to grips with them we have created a list of nearly 100 things that you should think about, or discuss with your accountant in the run up to the Self-Assessment deadline. 

Below you will find tips 67-79 which relate to investments. 

67. Do you take advantage of your ISA investment limit? You can currently invest up to £15,240. The income and capital growth on savings in an ISA is tax free.

68. Have you considered a junior ISA for under 18's?

69. Are your investments held between you and your spouse/civil partner so as to minimise your income tax? If you pay 40% or 45% tax and your spouse/partner pays 20% or less, you should consider transferring some income producing investments to your spouse/partner to reduce higher rate tax you pay.

70. Do you make use of your Capital Gains annual exemption each year (currently £11,000)?

71. If you are a non taxpayer make sure you receive any bank or building society interest gross, without any tax being deducted by the bank.

72. Investing in small unquoted trading companies is regarded as risky, so special tax reliefs exist to encourage this type of investment. You can invest up to £1,000,000 per tax year directly in small companies under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and receive a tax reduction of 30% of the amount invested. There is an exemption from capital gains tax if you hold those shares for at least three years. For smaller companies, the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) receives 50% income tax relief on investments up to £100,000 per year, with similar capital gains tax exemptions.

73. You can invest up to £200,000 per tax year indirectly in small companies through a Venture Capital trust (VCT), which will give you a tax reduction of 30% of the amount invested. These VCT shares must be held for five years to be free of capital gains tax on sale.

74. Do you know how much your pension fund is worth? You need to check it will not exceed the lifetime allowance (currently £1.5 million) when you start to draw your pension, to avoid high tax charges. A large pension fund that built up before 6 April 2006 can be protected from such charges.

75. You can now start to draw your pension while you are still working. An old style pension policy may allow you to commence a pension from age 55. You can work, draw some pension benefits, and contribute to another pension scheme all at the same time, until you reach age 75.

76. From 01/06/2014 you can invest up to £40,000 in premium bonds (previous limit was £30,000), and all prizes are tax free. You don’t lose your capital and  have the chance of winning £1 million each month, as well as smaller prizes. The prizes are tax free. 

77. If you are tragically breaking up with your spouse or civil partner and want to reorganise your assets between you in advance of a divorce, try to do this before the end of the tax year in which you split. Any transfers to your ex- partner in this period will be free of capital gains tax, but not if you wait until the following tax year.

78. If you have made a large capital gain, or plan to make a large gain within the next year, you can defer the tax payable on that gain by investing in EIS or SEIS shares.

79. If you plan to cash in some life assurance bonds first look at the level of your other income for the current tax year. The life assurance bond proceeds may push your total income into a higher rate tax band, or cause you to lose some higher age related allowances.

The next part will include tips relating to peroperty and loans. If you need help to get the most from your self-assesment then all you need to do is fill in this handy form.