Why Landfall counts in tax years

A year in Landfall runs from April to April, the same year as your tax allowances. The personal allowance, the tax bands, the ISA allowance and the capital gains allowance all start again each April, and most of what one year leaves unused cannot be carried into the next.

That is why the first years of retirement carry so much weight. When work stops, when each pension starts, which pots are drawn first and how much comes out each year all decide how much of each year’s allowances gets used.

Money kept in a pension or an ISA keeps growing there. Money drawn out stops growing there. So a choice made in one of the first few years affects every year after it.

• “Withdrawal approaches” shows the plan again with its pensions drawn another way, and can preview the whole plan drawn that way before you choose it.
• “How spending is funded” shows where each year’s money came from.
• The Tax tab shows each year’s income against the bands it met.

Final pay counts in the tax year it is paid, even if that is after the last day of work. A termination payment is taxed only above its tax-free threshold, which “Final pay” shows.