How to use 3 simple steps to deliver high-value personal tax planning

How to use three simple steps to turn personal tax planning into real client value

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Introduction: Personal tax isn’t just a number game

Let’s face it—most clients only think about personal tax when they get the HMRC reminder or the bill arrives.

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And most accountants? We’re stuck reacting to that, not shaping it. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

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In this post, we’ll walk you through the three-step approach to turn personal tax planning into something proactive, practical, and actually valuable to clients. It’s not about being a tax genius. It’s about using the right structure and asking better questions.

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Let’s dive in.

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Step 1: Understand the full picture, starting with the goals

You’d be surprised how many tax plans start with a calculator and not a conversation.

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Before you even start calculating any numbers, you need to understand what the client wants. Not just what their income is.

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Are they planning on buying a new home next year? Take a year off? Start a new business?  Get Investment?

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Tax planning isn’t about minimising tax for the sake of it. It’s about aligning someone’s income and tax position to the life they actually want. That means:

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• Asking about their goals (like “buying a house in 12 months”)

• Understanding business context (are there enough reserves to even take dividends?  Does the business have cash reserves? Is the business profitable?)

• Spotting overlooked details (like student loans or director’s loan balances)

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Think of it like a “triangle”—Goals (life, business, and financial), personal income and business s—to shape every personal tax conversation. Without it, you’re just guessing.

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Step 2: Map out their current reality

We’ve all been there. A client says they earn £70k. So you start planning based on that…

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…but then they mention a rental property, or a consulting gig, or child benefit, or a student loan. And suddenly your “optimal” salary/dividend split isn’t optimal at all.

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That’s why we always gather the actual income breakdown first, not halfway through the process. This includes:

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• checking for other income streams (employment, dividends, sole trade, property etc.)

• reviewing benefits (P11Ds, company cars, health cover)

• confirming things like marriage allowance, student loans, pension contributions, child benefit etc.

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You also need to understand how the business is performing:

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• Are there retained profits?

• What’s the director’s loan balance?

• Can they afford to take a dividend?  Have they already taken a dividend?

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The number one thing that trips people up in personal tax planning? Not knowing the starting point.

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Step 3: Run the numbers with the client

Once you’ve got the goals and the real income data, then it’s time to model the options.

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This is where our team uses Tax Torch.

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Instead of sending multiple spreadsheets and a wall of numbers, I jump on a call and show them live:

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• how much tax they’ll pay at different income levels

• the impact of making a pension contribution

• what happens if they go over the £100k threshold or any other threshold

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Want to keep your personal allowance? Let’s look at a scenario where the income is £100,000

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Want to reduce the child benefit clawback? Let’s look at dividends or model a pension payment and see the effect instantly.

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Want to show the difference between personal and company pension contributions? One click.

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What will the income looks like in future years?   Going down, maybe we could defer some income until next year?  Going up, maybe we should maximise lower bands this year?

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And most importantly—this isn’t a one-off. I do this quarterly. Because goals change. Business performance shifts. And plans should flex with them.  Doing it this way also means the compliance work is a by-product of the ongoing planning - no more Dec/Jan blues.

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Show, don’t tell

Here’s the thing—your client might already be doing £12,570 salary and the rest in dividends, and that MAY be the best for their situation

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But have you shown them the value of that?

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We’ve sat down with new clients, run their existing setup through Tax Torch, and shown:

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“This structure is saving you £9,000 compared to if you took it all as salary.”

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They’re stunned. Because no one ever told them that.

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We do this stuff all the time, but unless we can demonstrate the value, clients don’t see it—and they definitely won’t pay for it.

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Flip-side if you’re showing the value of the work, you’re understanding them and their business more and identifying mutually beneficial opportunities, while saving them a lot in tax, how much is this worth to each client?  £25/£49/£99 per month as an ongoing tax planning service?

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Have  better conversations with your clients

You don’t need to be a tax specialist—just a clear structure and the right tools.

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Start with goals. Understand the full picture. Show real options.

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And if you’re using a spreadsheet with 15 hidden tabs to do it which continually needs updated?

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It might be time for a better way.

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So here’s the real question: what’s stopping you from trying this with your next client?

If you want to see how our process works in practice, grab a free trial of Tax Torch and try it on one real scenario. You’ll be surprised how much simpler—and more valuable—tax planning can be.

👉 www.taxtorch.com

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