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When deciding where to invest your money, the tax status of investments should never be your first priority. You should put most thought into deciding which assets are most suited to your needs, and the timescale over which you intend to invest. For example, massive exposure to shares is probably too rich for elderly savers' blood, because they generally need their income and capital to be secure. However, once you've chosen your asset(s) (such as bonds, cash, property or shares), it makes sense to keep the taxman's mitts off your income and profits. Here are several products that enable you to do just that. Saving in cash Cash mini-ISAs The cash mini-ISA is the most popular tax-free account on the high street. It allows you to put up to £3,000 each tax year into a savings account that pays tax-free interest - it's that simple. Cash mini-ISAs have been available since April 1999, which means that a couple who have saved the maximum £3,000 apiece over the last six tax years would have amassed £36,000 in total. At an annual interest rate of 4.5% and assuming they withdraw their interest every year, this couple would earn £1,620 this tax year, without paying a penny in tax - and they don't have to declare this income on their tax returns. Marvellous! TESSAs and TOISAs Some savers still have TESSAs (Tax-Exempt Special Savings Accounts), the forerunners of ISAs. The last batch of TESSAs matured on 5 April this year, and savers have just six months from their TESSA's maturity date to reinvest their capital in a TOISA (TESSA-only ISA) before it loses its tax-free status. A TOISA allows savers to shelter up to another £9,000 from tax, so it's well worth having. National Savings and Investments National Savings & Investments (NS&I), the government's savings arm, allows savers to put a further £90,000 into tax-free Savings Certificates and Premium Bonds, where your capital is entirely secure. This £90,000 is made up of: So, over recent years, a savings-mad couple could have amassed a total of £234,000 in tax-free savings products (£36,000 in cash mini-ISAs, £18,000 in TOISAs and £180,000 in NS&I products - and that's before taking retained interest into account. That should be enough for all but the most affluent savers! Investing in shares Shares ISAs If you are a big fan of investing in companies via the stock market, then you may find the above savings products too tame for your liking. If you invest in shares, the taxman will allow you to shelter up to £7,000 every tax year in a shares maxi-ISA. (However, if you open a cash mini-ISA in any tax year, you can only open a shares mini-ISA in that tax year, into which you can invest up to £3,000). Putting an ISA wrapper around your shares means that you do not have to pay capital gains tax on your profits, nor do you face an income tax bill on your dividend income. Over time, this will make a substantial difference to your investment growth, especially if you would otherwise pay higher-rate tax if you held shares outside of an ISA. Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) If you've already used up your £7,000 ISA subscription for this year, you could take a look at Venture Capital Trusts. You can invest up to £200,000 per person per tax year into VCTs and automatically get 40% income tax relief. So, an investment of £10,000 would only cost you £6,000 after an Inland Revenue refund of £4,000. However, VCTs invest in small companies (those with assets under £15 million), including unquoted companies and those listed on the Alternative Investment Market and OFEX. This makes investing in VCTs massively riskier than, say, buying into blue-chip FTSE 100 members - hence the tax incentive. In essence, VCTs are best suited to well-off investors who have an appetite for risk and large income tax bills. Note that several VCTs have lost the majority of their investors' capital, which shows that the 'tax tail should never wag the investment dog'! Enterprise Investment Schemes (EISs) EISs also invest in unquoted companies. Their tax incentives include 20% income tax relief (so a £10,000 investment costs a net £8,000). The maximum investment is £200,000 per person per tax year, and shares must be held for a minimum of three years. EISs also allow investors to defer capital gains tax on other disposals, so long as the EIS investment is made within one year before or three years after the disposal that led to the capital gain. This CGT concession effectively means another 40% contribution from the taxman, so our £10,000 investment now costs a net £4,000. If EIS shares are held for three years, no CGT is payable on their disposal. Again, EISs are incredibly risky - there's little point in getting £6,000 of tax relief if your entire £10,000 investment is wiped out. Hence, they're only really suitable for mega-investors who are prepared to do their homework in an effort to reduce big CGT bills. More: Visit out ISA centre | More about VCTs | More about EISs.