Martin Lewis MSE says boost tax-free Personal Allowance to £18,570

Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert has shared a method to boost your tax-free Personal Allowance for Income Tax with HMRC all the way up to £18,570.

The site, founded by Martin Lewis, has set out a fully legal method to boost your savings by taking advantage of a scheme called Starting Rate for Savings which, will expand your Personal Allowance by an extra £6,000.

Normally, individuals have a £12,570 Personal Allowance, unless they earn over £125,140, at which point you lose the allowance. It means that, for everyone earning less than that, you pay no tax on the first £12,570 you earn, and then 20% tax on every £1 above that, or 40% above £50,270, up the bands until the top band pays 45%.

But it's not just salary from work which counts towards your taxable income, but savings too. The interest you earn from savings is tax-free for the first £1,000 if you're a basic rate taxpayer, then is reduced to £500 for a 40% taxpayer or nothing for a top rate taxpayer.

However, you can significantly boost the amount of savings interest you can earn tax-free using Starting Rate for Savings, says MSE.

It says: "The Starting Rate for Savings means some can earn up to £18,570 of salary and interest combined without paying any tax on it. Essentially, this Starting Rate kicks in above your Personal Allowance, and allows you to earn up to £5,000 in savings interest on top (so for most this will be from £12,570 to £17,570) without being charged tax.

"However, for every £1 of extra income (other than savings interest income) you have above your Personal Allowance, you lose £1 of the Starting Rate for Savings. So, someone earning £17,570 in salary wouldn't get any tax-free allowance for their savings under the Starting Rate for Savings.

"Your Personal Savings Allowance (PSA) is on top of the allowances above - it's the amount of interest you can earn from ANY and ALL SAVINGS without paying tax on it."

So when combining the Starting Rate for Savings with your regular £1,000 Personal Savings Allowance, you can actually boost your tax-free Personal Allowance all the way up to £18,570.