LAST month I wrote about inheritance tax planning.

This month I’d like to look at some basic income tax and capital gains tax planning. Articles and advice on this topic generally appear in the last few weeks of the tax year, but that is often far too late to take effective action.

Married couples and civil partners have a number of opportunities to save tax.

Because each spouse or partner has a personal allowance and basic rate band, it makes sense to ensure that any investment income is split to make best use of these.

Over the years I have seen many instances where one partner or spouse has paid tax at higher rate while the other pays tax either at the basic rate or, worse still, is not a taxpayer at all.

This is a good time of year to look at sources of investment income and ask whether some could be shared – or shared differently – to reduce your tax bill.

In addition to the personal allowance and basic rate band, there is a zero rate band for the first £5,000 of dividends this year.

There is also an exemption for the first £1,000 of savings income (reduced to £500 for higher rate taxpayers and to zero for those with income in excess of £150,000).

Some individuals on low incomes have access to an additional savings allowance.

These allowances present clear – and intended – incentives to split income to save tax.

From April 2017 there will be two new allowances for the first £1,000 of income from property and for the first £1,000 of self- employment income.

The annual limit for investment in an Individual Savings Allowance (ISA) will also increase to £20,000 and there is now the facility to transfer a deceased spouse’s ISA to the surviving spouse or partner complete with the tax benefits.

Each individual also has an annual capital gains tax allowance and if one spouse has an asset standing at a loss while the other is about to realise a capital gain, there may be an opportunity to transfer assets between them to match the loss with the gain (though things have to be done in the right sequence).

Parliament has intentionally created many opportunities to save tax.

They should be used but, as always, take advice first.

• Paul Aplin OBE is a tax partner with A C Mole & Sons and chairman of the Technical Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales Tax Faculty; you can follow him on Twitter @ PaulAplinOnTax.

He and fellow tax partner Amanda Gunter can be contacted on 01823 624450.