Changelog

Corrections and dated wording ahead of the Autumn Budget, and four case files from market history on the options pages. Each new fact names its source and the date it was checked; the options worked examples keep their 17 August 2026 model date.

• Paying HMRC by bank transfer: the HICBC Self Assessment page had the account numbers of HMRC Cumbernauld and HMRC Shipley the wrong way round. Cumbernauld is 12001039 and Shipley 12001020, both on sort code 08 32 10, as GOV.UK gives them (checked 11 October 2026). The page’s introduction also now gives the 5 October 2026 deadline to register for Self Assessment in the past tense.
• Dates that would have gone out of date: sentences about the ONS releases of 20 and 21 October, the Autumn Budget on 28 October and the Bank of England’s decision on 5 November now say what was known on the date each page was checked, so they stay true once those dates pass. The pages include the State Pension April 2027 tracker, the Autumn Budget 2026 tracker, the fuel duty, Bank Rate, ISA, energy and tax calendar pages, and the Budget note on the take-home pay pages and the tax calculator.
• Budget tracker: a line in its list of preparations said a rumoured capital gains tax rise was a reason to realise gains sooner; it now says that a rumour is not a confirmed change, and that whether or when to realise a gain depends on the reader’s own circumstances.
• Case files from market history: four options pages each have a short HISTORY box that sets one real episode beside the page’s own model: Barings in 1995 on the short straddle page, the VIX on 5 February 2018 on the implied volatility page, Tesco on 22 September 2014 on the cash-secured put page, and the September 2022 gilt market and pension funds on the Level 3 page. The methods page sets out the rules they follow.
• Options pages on phones, and a blank ledger: strike lists in table headers no longer break in the middle of a number, most charts that scroll sideways now open centred on the price or strikes they mark, and side panels that only repeat a page’s own sources or links are hidden on small screens. The SA108 page offers a blank options tax ledger for 2026/27 (CSV) with the same columns as the CGT calculator’s export.

The second stage of the options review added depth to existing pages rather than new pages. Each new fact names its source and the date it was checked; the worked examples keep their 17 August 2026 model date, and every new figure is recomputed by the site’s checks.

• Sticky spots and defensive rolls: the rolling page has a new section on positions that have gone against their owner with time still to run. It prices the choices in three cases (a BP covered call deep in the money the day before an ex-dividend date, a FTSE 100 short strangle breached on the downside, and a BP put rolled down and out three times as the credits shrink), sets what each defence costs in capital and time against the same money held in cash, and explains why rolling out to a later expiry is a defensive choice rather than an efficient use of capital. Six strategy pages point to it, the hub’s question finder has a row for it, and the glossary has a “defensive roll” entry.
• Where UK options trade: the hub now says that ICE Futures Europe took over LIFFE’s equity options in November 2014; the hub and the options for beginners page say that Eurex also lists options on some UK shares and that the London Stock Exchange lists none; and the FTSE 100 page adds Eurex’s FTSE 100 option, which had no trades or open positions in its monthly expiries on 9 October 2026. The broker comparison names the large UK platforms that offer no listed options, and every firm’s FCA register number was checked on 10 October 2026. That settles a conflict on Webull’s own pages: Webull Securities (UK) Ltd is 961286, and the 960128 quoted on one of its pages belongs to an unrelated firm.
• Research on retail option trading: the earnings page and the mistakes page summarise two studies of retail options trades around company results, with their limits, and the cash-secured put page adds the long-run record of Cboe’s PutWrite index.
• Tax: the tax pages say why ICE and Cboe options count as traded options for capital gains tax, and that share options from an employer follow the employment-income rules instead; the glossary’s stamp duty reserve tax entry covers the AIM exemption and the relief for recently listed companies.
• Glossary and navigation: the options glossary has 267 terms, 13 of them new. The “More strategies and guides” list on every options page now follows the course order with short names; every options page links the glossary, and its side panel lists the glossary entries that page relies on; each subnav destination has one name, and “Tools” opens the hub’s tools section; related-page lists fall to one column on phones; the calculators index lists all five options tools; and the CGT, bed-and-breakfasting, ISA, SIPP and leveraged ETF guides link to the options pages that answer their options questions.

A second review of the options course checked its pages, worked examples and tools against the exchanges’, HMRC’s and the companies’ own documents. The worked examples keep their 17 August 2026 model date and were not re-priced: where something has happened since, the page now says what was assumed and what happened. The main corrections:

• How long ICE options list, and at which strikes: the LEAPS page used a June 2028 Rolls-Royce series as if it traded on screen. ICE’s contract list (dated 30 April 2026) gives Rolls-Royce screen expiries to one year, with longer dates on ICE Block only, while BP, GSK, HSBC, Shell and Tesco list to two years; the page now says so. Pages that said ICE publishes no table of strike intervals now say it publishes minimum strike scales, and the FTSE 100 option’s strikes are given as 25 to 800 points apart, not 25 to 200.
• Options in a SIPP: several pages said no UK SIPP administrator allows options. The two administrators on Interactive Brokers’ UK list exclude them, but at least one other administrator’s 2025 list of permitted investments includes exchange-traded options. The pages now give the practical answer first, that the large SIPP platforms do not offer options, and then say that a few specialist SIPPs list them, usually dealt through a broker the administrator approves (options in an ISA, SIPP or general account).
• Tesco’s interim dividend: the examples assumed 5.08p. Tesco declared 5.05p on 8 October 2026, going ex-dividend on 15 October, and the pages that use it now record the outcome beside the assumption.
• Dates that would have gone out of date: sentences such as “BP sets the figure with its results” and “BP’s next ex-dividend date is 12 November” now say what was known on the model date, so they stay true after those dates pass.
• The strategy builder and the other tools: the strategy builder valued ICE’s American options as European, so it could show an option below its intrinsic value; it no longer does, and it solves a typed quote’s implied volatility on the American model. Dividends on shares in a position now have their own figure, and editing a FTSE 100 example that holds index units no longer stops the builder. The implied volatility solver refuses a quote below the lowest value an American option can have, the planner’s covered-call maximum return no longer counts a dividend that its own warning says would be lost, and the Greeks lab shows gamma in the right units for a custom contract.
• Course order and labels: level pages are no longer called “gates”, the “next” lists follow the course order, two strategy pages no longer assume a page that comes later, the hub now says each level page ends with its self-check, and each options page carries one breadcrumb trail in its structured data instead of two.
• Investing hub and leveraged ETFs: the investing hub described the options course as it was before its rewrite and said the premium for writing an option is not taxed until the position closes; HMRC’s manual (CG55536) treats it as a gain when the option is written, and the hub now says so. The leveraged and inverse ETF page no longer names shares or a broker as alternatives: it describes each route, what it costs and its risks.

• Buying gilts directly or through an ETF: the guide to buying gilts directly or through an ETF based its worked example on two gilts that do not exist, “TG27” and “TM30”, with made-up prices and yields. It now uses three real gilts, 1¼% Treasury Gilt 2027, 1⅝% Treasury Gilt 2028 and 0⅞% Treasury Gilt 2029, checked against their DMO prospectuses and priced from a stated 4.5% yield with the DMO’s price formula, and compares them with a short-dated gilt ETF. The guide also listed IGLT twice (the index-linked fund is INXG), gave two wrong fund tickers, and gave VGOV’s charge as 0.07% (it is 0.05%). It said a low-coupon gilt beats a cash ISA paying the same rate; interest in a cash ISA is tax-free, so the comparison is with taxable savings. Sources: Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, section 115; DMO prospectus for 0⅞% Treasury Gilt 2029.
• Crypto data and Capital Gains Tax: the crypto section of the Capital Gains Tax guide said, without a source, that HMRC had been receiving bulk data from UK crypto exchanges since 2023. HMRC can require information from exchanges under Schedule 23 to the Finance Act 2011 or Schedule 36 to the Finance Act 2008, and under the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework UK service providers have collected customer details since 1 January 2026, with their first reports to HMRC due between 1 January and 31 May 2027. The section was rewritten from HMRC’s Cryptoassets Manual and now covers the planned “no gain, no loss” treatment of cryptoasset loans and liquidity pools from 6 April 2027. Sources: HMRC Cryptoassets Manual, CRYPTO100300; HMRC, reporting cryptoasset user and transaction data.
• Source links on calculators and ETF pages: links that redirected or no longer worked now go to the current GOV.UK, Welsh Government, FCA Handbook and fund provider pages. A calculator source that pointed to a research institute page that no longer exists now cites HM Treasury’s Budget 2025 overview, which keeps the Personal Allowance and higher-rate threshold at their current levels until April 2031. The WisdomTree fund listed as Europe Equity Income now appears under its current name, WisdomTree Europe High Dividend UCITS ETF. Source: HM Treasury, Budget 2025 overview of tax legislation and rates.

Guides and calculators were checked line by line against primary sources: GOV.UK, HMRC manuals, legislation.gov.uk, the FCA, ONS, the Bank of England and the providers named on each page. The first round covered the pages linked from the homepage and menus, the second the other guides and calculators last reviewed before September. Each corrected page now lists the sources it was checked against, with the date. The main corrections follow; each says what was wrong and what the page says now.

Guides and calculators linked from the homepage and menus

• High Income Child Benefit Charge: worked examples did not round the charge down to whole pounds, as the law requires; the Child Benefit charge calculator’s example now shows £116, £1,960 and £1,308. The which-partner-pays guide gave a charge of £553 on £65,000 of income; it is £584. Its tie-break for partners with equal incomes now follows section 681B, and steps the law does not contain were removed. Source: Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, section 681C.
• State Pension and tax: the State Pension and Personal Allowance page and the April 2027 rise page worked out the taxable State Pension for 2026/27 as £12,547.60, leaving £22.40 of Personal Allowance. HMRC counts one week at the old rate and 51 weeks at the new, which gives £12,536.55 and £33.45. The April 2027 page was written before the September figures; it now uses ONS’s first estimate of earnings growth (3.9%) and CPI inflation for August (3.1%). The complete State Pension guide gave the April 2026 rise as 4.1%; it was 4.8%. It now says State Pension age is 67 for anyone born on or after 6 March 1961. Source: GOV.UK, how your State Pension is taxed.
• Pension tax relief: the higher-rate relief calculator gave the full extra relief even when only part of the income was taxed above 20%, and used the wrong Scottish rates for 2022/23 and 2023/24. It now works out each year from that year’s income and nation. Source: GOV.UK, pension tax relief.
• Inheritance Tax on pensions: the pensions and Inheritance Tax guide described the April 2027 change as a proposal. It is law (Finance Act 2026, sections 66 to 69, Royal Assent 18 March 2026), personal representatives are liable for the tax, and the guide now works the combined rate on a pension left to a beneficiary who pays 40% Income Tax as 64% (67% at 45%). The CGT and Inheritance Tax guide said only defined contribution pots are affected and that money already withdrawn stays outside the estate; both statements were wrong. The pension allowances guide now says that holders of fixed or enhanced protection whose application reached HMRC before 15 March 2023 can make new contributions without losing it.
• ISA transfers and the 2027 cash limit: the ISA transfer guide still described the rules before April 2024. Current-year money can now be moved in part and into any type of ISA; a transfer between cash ISAs must be completed within 15 working days, and other transfers within 30 calendar days. The cash ISA limit guide and calculator now cite the April 2027 rules as made law (SI 2026/1018). Source: GOV.UK, transferring your ISA.
• Marriage Allowance backdating: the guide to backdated claims said the earlier years could be claimed online. They are claimed by post on form MATCF. A claim can go back to 6 April 2022, worth up to £1,008 for those four years plus up to £252 for 2026/27, and the bereavement example is now £756 because 2021/22 is out of time. Married Couple’s Allowance is £4,530 to £11,700 in 2026/27. Source: GOV.UK, Marriage Allowance.
• Stamp Duty: the first-time buyer guide gave standard Stamp Duty on a £500,001 home as £10,000.05; it is £15,000.05. The mixed-use guide mixed up the residential and non-residential bands, so its £1.2 million example is £49,500, not £52,500, and it misdescribed one of the tribunal cases it cited. The inherited property guide said an inherited share brings in the higher rates even when you are replacing your main home; it does not. The second home calculator charged the 5% surcharge on homes under £40,000, which the higher rates do not cover. Source: GOV.UK, Stamp Duty residential rates.
• Calculators: the savings interest calculator did not count interest covered by the starting rate or the Personal Savings Allowance against the basic-rate band, so a £50,000 salary with £2,000 of interest showed £546 of tax instead of £600. The second job calculator worked out student loan repayments on both jobs together; each job is tested on its own. The tax code decoder showed 1257L as £12,579 of tax-free pay and misread the Scottish SD0 to SD3 codes. The marginal rate calculator used 42% instead of 45% in the Scottish Personal Allowance taper, so it showed 68% instead of 69.5%. The emergency tax checker’s worked example overstated the overpayment, which is £838.60, not £1,674. The tax year checker still worked from the 2025/26 year end and ignored its pension input; it now covers 2026/27 and counts pension contributions in adjusted net income.
• Crypto: the crypto nudge letters guide gave penalty ranges HMRC does not use (0 to 10%, and 200%). It now shows HMRC’s penalty tables and says cryptoasset service providers have collected customer data since 1 January 2026, with the first reports to HMRC due by 31 May 2027. The staking guide cited the wrong HMRC manual section and a £10,000 hobby threshold that does not exist. Source: HMRC, reporting cryptoasset user and transaction data.
• Energy and bills: the energy price cap guide still described the July to September cap as current; it now gives the cap from 1 October, and describes Ofgem’s lower standing charge plan as a pilot rather than a requirement. Pages that said the Household Support Fund was still running now say it was replaced by the Crisis and Resilience Fund on 1 April 2026. The priority bills guide listed water bills as a priority debt, which they are not, and now says Breathing Space lasts up to 60 days.
• Inherited assets and consumer rights: the guide to CGT on inherited assets gave the tax on a lifetime sale as £27,840; it is £27,360. It also said anyone who inherits an ISA gets an extra allowance; only a spouse or civil partner does. The consumer rights hub described the old voluntary scam refund code; it now gives the reimbursement rules in force since 7 October 2024 (up to £85,000, claimed within 13 months).
• Other corrections: the budgeting guide said £2,200 a month is what a typical salary leaves; the median full-time salary of £39,039 leaves about £2,636. The first baby guide said Statutory Paternity Pay could be extended to 6 weeks (it is paid for up to 2) and gave the earnings threshold as £125 a week (it is £129). The VAT schemes guide gave the flat rate for labour-only construction as 9.5%; it is 14.5%. The landlord calculator now says relief for replacing domestic items applies to furnished and unfurnished lets alike, that the first furnishing of a let gets no relief (it said the cost went into the base cost for CGT), and that the Wear and Tear allowance was abolished. The SIPP commercial property guide gave unauthorised payment charges as 55%; it now sets out the 40% charge, the 15% surcharge and the scheme sanction charge, and the 50% borrowing limit.

Other guides and calculators

• HMRC enquiries and disclosures: the COP8 and COP9 guide said COP8 is reserved for suspected avoidance; HMRC uses it where it believes there may be a significant loss of tax and COP9 is not used. It gave the maximum prison sentence as 7 years for cheating the public revenue; the statutory tax evasion offences carry up to 14 years for offences committed after 22 February 2024. The settlement guide said late payment interest is compounded daily at about 3% to 5%; it is simple daily interest at Bank Rate plus 4%, which has been 7.75% since 9 January 2026, and its worked example was recomputed. The nudge letters guide gave penalty ranges HMRC does not publish and said online platforms report sellers who earn over £1,000 a year; platforms have reported since 1 January 2024, and only goods sellers with fewer than 30 sales and 2,000 euros or less are left out. The compliance check guide now says the 12-month window for HMRC to open an enquiry runs from the date it receives the return. The crypto nudge letters guide now adds that HMRC can go back up to 20 years where someone should have registered for Self Assessment and did not. The HMRC letter decoder gave late payment interest as around 7.5%; it is 7.75%. Sources: HMRC interest rates; HMRC Compliance Handbook CH56100.
• HMRC phone lines, tax codes and payroll forms: the HMRC phone guide showed a monthly table of waiting times that did not come from HMRC and said some lines open on Saturdays; it now uses HMRC’s published average answer times, and the main helplines open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. The tax code guide gave the code for a partner receiving Marriage Allowance as 1383L (it is 1383M) and said £1,000 owed takes 100 off a tax code; for a basic-rate taxpayer it takes 500 off. The P45, P60 and P11D guide said Part 1 of a P45 goes to HMRC and that an employer must reissue a lost P45; neither is true now. The P60 guide listed a box for Statutory Sick Pay, which the P60 does not have.
• Capital Gains Tax: the Bed and ISA guide and the 30-day rule guide cited the wrong section of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992; the 30-day rule is section 106A. The 30-day rule guide also gave a wrong worked example, a pre-1998 rule that does not exist and tribunal cases that could not be found. The Bed and ISA guide said gains must be reported when sale proceeds exceed four times the allowance; since 2023/24 the test for people in Self Assessment is proceeds over £50,000, or gains above the allowance. Source: TCGA 1992, section 106A.
• Pensions: the transfer value guide used transfer values that did not come from any scheme; its worked example (£420,000) is about £296,000 on the stated model. The transfer decision guide relied on the critical yield test the FCA has replaced, and the transfer process guide got the cooling-off rules wrong and still referred to the lifetime allowance. The guide to moving an old pension to a SIPP said exit charges can be 5% to 30%; for people aged 55 or over, charges on existing contract-based pensions are capped at 1%, and new contracts have none. The lump sum allowance guide corrected the allowance for enhanced protection and the 15 March 2023 rule, the tax-free lump sum calculator’s script was corrected, and the drawdown tax calculator no longer labels State Pension as untaxed income.
• State Pension: the inherited State Pension guide said widows usually inherit up to 50% of SERPS (it is 50% to 100%, depending on dates of birth and death), that deferral increases can be inherited under the new State Pension (only where the partner reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016), and that a divorce substitution carries into the new system (only a pension sharing order does). Its worked example now gives £74.15 a week. The deferral guide, the starting amount guide, which used an out-of-date basic State Pension rate, and the contracted-out guide were rewritten from GOV.UK and DWP guidance, with recomputed examples. Sources: GOV.UK, inheriting Additional State Pension; GOV.UK, inheriting or increasing State Pension from a spouse or civil partner.
• Inheritance Tax: the 7-year gift rule guide, the Business Relief guide, the gifts from normal income guide and the transferable nil rate band guide had errors in the spouse rules, the residence nil rate band taper, the Business Relief changes from 6 April 2026 and their worked examples, which were recomputed.
• Company tax: the directors’ loan guide now gives the section 455 charge as 35.75% for loans made on or after 6 April 2026. Its bed and breakfasting section gave no thresholds (the 30-day rule applies to repayments of £5,000 or more, and a separate rule to arrangements where £15,000 or more is owed); it said the charge is lost if a loan is never repaid (it can be reclaimed when the loan is written off); and its worked example was rebuilt. The dividend waivers guide cited the wrong HMRC manual (the guidance is at TSEM4220 and TSEM4225) and misstated the facts of the Arctic Systems case. The associated companies guide corrected who counts as associated and two arithmetic errors. The R&D pitfalls guide removed a £20,000 de minimis that does not exist, and the R&D guide for small companies corrected the value of relief for loss-making companies and the R&D intensity threshold. Source: Corporation Tax Act 2010, section 455.
• Residence and working abroad: the statutory residence test guide misstated the first automatic overseas test, the home test and the deemed days rule. The returning to the UK guide still described the remittance basis and domicile rules that ended on 5 April 2025, and got the temporary non-residence period wrong. The working abroad guide offered voluntary Class 2 contributions for time abroad; from 6 April 2026 they cannot be paid, and Class 3 for periods abroad needs 10 years of UK residence or contributions. The non-resident landlord guide’s worked example now shows £4,800 withheld and a £4,314 refund.
• Student loans: every repayment figure in the Plan 4 guide’s table used last year’s threshold; it now uses £33,795. The Plan 2 guide used an out-of-date upper interest threshold (it is now £52,885) and its repayment arithmetic was corrected. The Plan 1 guide’s worked example takes just over 15 years to repay, not about 16. Source: GOV.UK, repaying your student loan.
• VAT: the VAT registration guide gave the deadline as 30 days from going over the threshold (it is 30 days from the end of the month in which you went over) and described the default surcharge as current; for VAT periods starting on or after 1 January 2023, late returns earn penalty points instead. The flat rate scheme guide had four wrong sector rates and wrong rules on capital goods and the first-year discount. Source: GOV.UK, register for VAT.
• Savings and Premium Bonds: the savings interest guide said interest covered by the Personal Savings Allowance does not count as income for any other purpose; it still counts towards tax bands and adjusted net income. The higher-rate saver guide suggested a Marriage Allowance transfer, which is not available where the receiving partner pays higher-rate tax, and linked Premium Bonds to the FSCS limit; NS&I’s maximum holding is £50,000, backed by HM Treasury. The Premium Bonds tax guide cited the wrong law and gave unsourced typical returns, and the starting rate guide’s example ignored unused Personal Allowance. Several savings pages now also give the savings rates of 22%, 42% and 47% that apply from 6 April 2027. Source: Finance Act 2026, section 5.
• Child Benefit charge and Marriage Allowance: the separated parents guide said maintenance is taxable for the person who receives it and counts towards adjusted net income (it does not), and that the charge falls on the parent the child lives with (after separation it depends on who is entitled to Child Benefit). The guide to paying the charge through PAYE and other pages said the PAYE service had been available since October 2025, which no HMRC source states; they now cite HMRC’s announcements, and a £935 charge in that guide and the worked examples library is £934 once rounded down. The Marriage Allowance guide implied Scottish intermediate-rate taxpayers cannot receive the allowance (they can). The divorce guide said separation never cancels it and that a divorce partway through the year keeps the full year (legal separation counts, and cancellation can be backdated to 6 April). The guide to when it is not worth claiming now shows that the case where a claim leaves a couple worse off involves the starting rate for savings.
• Investing: the ETF tax by wrapper guide worked its general account example from the ISA gain and left tax relief out of its SIPP comparison; both examples were recomputed, and it no longer says a W-8BEN cuts US withholding to 15% on Irish-domiciled funds. The UCITS and US ETFs guide paired four funds with the wrong equivalents and suggested a W-8BEN gives UK investors access to US-domiciled ETFs; it does not. The gilts in retirement guide, the gilt ladder guide and the gilts deep dive named gilts that do not exist or have already been repaid; they now use gilts found in the registrar’s records or examples labelled as hypothetical. The active to passive guide now uses S&P’s SPIVA Europe year-end 2025 figure and VWRL’s 0.14% charge. The one fund or several guide ignored the 30-day rule when selling to bank a loss, and the ETF tools map described features the tools no longer have.
• Household money and life events: the mortgage guide forecast falling rates from market pricing, but new mortgage rates rose from June to August 2026, and it cited guidance that has been withdrawn. The car finance guide said early repayment is free on loans under £25,000 (on a fixed-rate agreement a lender can charge up to 1%, or 0.5% with a year or less left, but only where more than £8,000 is repaid in 12 months) and that section 75 covers hire purchase (it does not); its calculator’s APR conversion was corrected. The renting guide said landlords may take several months’ rent in advance instead of a guarantor, which has been unlawful in England since 1 May 2026, and the Renters’ Rights Act guide still presented 31 July 2026 as a deadline to come. The bereavement guide implied Tell Us Once covers Northern Ireland. The carers guide described an annual Carer’s Allowance Supplement, which is now the Scottish Carer Supplement, paid with each instalment. The debt help guide called a debt relief order low-cost (there has been no fee since April 2024) without giving its limits; it now gives the £50,000 debt limit and the £680 bankruptcy fee. The first job checklist listed BR as an emergency tax code, and the first job journey’s salary sacrifice arithmetic was corrected.
• Sources boxes: links that redirected now go to the current GOV.UK pages (cryptoasset tax guidance and VAT registration). The box on Budget and fiscal drag pages listed a research institute under official sources; it now lists HMRC and HM Treasury’s Budget 2025 overview of tax legislation and rates. The box on the investment trust dividend page listed Corporation Tax and Employment Allowance pages; it now lists the dividend tax, investment trust and stamp duty sources for the figures on that page.

• How pages are checked: several trust pages and the accountability box at the foot of each page said that every page is checked against primary sources before publication. They now say what is done: pages are checked against the primary sources listed on each page and reviewed by the Editor, errors still get through, and corrections are logged on this page.
• Adviser page: the page that listed one accountancy firm is now a neutral guide to choosing a qualified UK tax adviser. It names no firm and links only the CIOT, ATT, ICAEW and ACCA directories and the FCA Register.
• Advertising, funding and consent: the how we make money page said ads sit in fixed positions; they are placed by Google’s Auto ads, and the site has no hand-placed ad slots. The funding pages now say the site is set up to be funded by display advertising from Google and that, until ads run, the publisher meets the running costs. The consent wording now applies where Google’s consent message is shown, with the site’s own banner as the fallback.
• Launch date: this page gave 2024 as the site’s launch year. UK Tax Drag launched in April 2026; its publisher was incorporated on 14 March 2024. The structured data no longer gives 2024 as the site’s founding date.
• About page: its list of topics said to be out of scope included trusts, Business Asset Disposal Relief, EIS, SEIS and VCTs, residence and the Scottish bands, which the site covers. It now says they are covered at an introductory level and points to specialists.
• Disclaimer: it said review dates were rebuilt on every deploy. They are not: the date in each byline changes only when the page is reviewed.
• Review dates on calculators: the sources box on 15 calculators showed a fixed review date from April 2026 that disagreed with the page’s own byline. It now shows the byline’s date. Thirteen source links in those boxes that no longer worked, or pointed to the wrong page, now go to the current GOV.UK, HMRC, legislation.gov.uk, ONS or Pensions Regulator page.
• Newsletter and switched-off features: there is no newsletter, and the trust and policy pages no longer describe features that are switched off.
• Privacy notice: the TradingView market ticker entries were removed, because the ticker no longer appears on the site.
• Contact page: it no longer carries advertising.
• Methodology and the UK Tax Drag Report 2026: both called the Scottish 42% rate the intermediate rate; it is the higher rate (the intermediate rate is 21%). The methodology page’s student loan interest description now matches GOV.UK’s current rates, and it has a dated sources list. The report’s source for the Personal Allowance taper pointed to an unrelated HMRC manual page; it now links GOV.UK’s Income Tax rates page.
• Options corrections log: the full list of options corrections from 28 September moved here from the corrections policy, with each entry worded as what was wrong and what the page says now.
• Voluntary National Insurance and the State Pension: pages on filling gaps in a National Insurance record said years back to 2006 could still be bought until 5 April 2027, and that each year bought added about £329 a year of State Pension. The extended window for April 2006 to April 2017 closed on 5 April 2025. Only the last 6 tax years can now be paid (in 2026/27, 2020/21 onward, and 2020/21 closes on 5 April 2027), and a full year adds about £358.50 a year at the 2026/27 rate. The National Insurance guide, the Class 2 and Class 3, gap-year, top-up and voluntary contribution pages, the Class 3 calculator, the FAQ and the HMRC letter decoder were corrected. Sources: GOV.UK, voluntary National Insurance deadlines; GOV.UK, new State Pension.
• UK tax calendar 2026/27: several dates were wrong. P60s are due by 31 May, the final Employer Payment Summary by 19 April and P11D forms by 6 July; 5 October is the deadline to register for Self Assessment; and the Autumn Budget is on Wednesday 28 October 2026. The tax credits rows were removed, because tax credits ended on 5 April 2025. Each row now links its GOV.UK source. Sources: GOV.UK, PAYE forms; GOV.UK, register for Self Assessment; GOV.UK, tax credits have ended.
• Section 75, sick pay and Marriage Allowance: the Section 75 guide now includes buy now, pay later agreements regulated by the FCA since 15 July 2026, alongside credit cards and finance arranged through the seller, for items with a cash price of £100 to £30,000. The illness guide now gives the current Statutory Sick Pay rules: £123.25 a week or 80% of normal weekly earnings if that is lower, after at least one full working day of illness, with no earnings test. The getting married guide overstated Marriage Allowance backdating: a claim can go back to 6 April 2022, worth up to £1,008 for those four years, plus up to £252 for 2026/27. Sources: Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 75; FCA, buy now pay later; GOV.UK, Statutory Sick Pay; GOV.UK, Marriage Allowance.
• Business Asset Disposal Relief and property: the close investment company, strike-off and limited company guides used the 2025/26 rate of 14%; the rate is 18% from 6 April 2026, and their examples were recomputed. The non-resident Stamp Duty surcharge guide, the buy-to-let guide’s worked examples and the city cost-of-living pages were also corrected and re-sourced. Source: GOV.UK, Business Asset Disposal Relief.
• ISAs and pensions: the ISA vs pension calculator opened on a result that contradicted its own worked example. It now caps the tax-free quarter of a pension at the £268,275 lump sum allowance and gives non-taxpayers basic-rate relief on up to £3,600 gross a year in relief-at-source schemes, and its default view agrees with the example. The Lifetime ISA is now described as a 25% government bonus with conditions, including the 25% withdrawal charge, rather than as a risk-free return. The ISA guide and the guide to choosing an ISA show the April 2027 Cash ISA limit as made law, and the flexible ISA guide was rewritten from HMRC’s rules. Sources: GOV.UK, lump sum allowance; GOV.UK, pension tax relief; GOV.UK, Lifetime ISA withdrawals; SI 2026/1018.
• Tax codes and complaints: the tax code pages were re-checked against GOV.UK, and the D0 page’s National Insurance example was corrected. The complaint escalation planner gave an out-of-date Financial Ombudsman award limit; for complaints referred from 1 April 2026 about events on or after 1 April 2019 it is £455,000. Source: Financial Ombudsman Service, compensation limits.
• UK Tax Drag Report 2026: its model assumed inflation of 2.2% for 2025 and 2.0% for 2026, but ONS CPI inflation was 3.4% for 2025 and 3.1% in the 12 months to August 2026, so its figures are out of date. The report now says so at the top and is no longer maintained; links to it go to the Fiscal Drag Tracker, which works from the published thresholds and ONS CPI. Source: ONS, CPI annual rate (D7G7).
• Cash ISA rules from April 2027: the over-65 exemption, transfer ban and Budget 2025 summary pages still called the rules draft. The Individual Savings Account (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026 were made on 10 September 2026 and come into force on 6 April 2027; the pages now cite them as made, including the cash limit’s regulation number, 4ZA(1ZA). Source: SI 2026/1018.
• Student loan calculator: it said self-employed borrowers who owe over £3,000 may need to make payments on account. Student loan repayments are not part of payments on account; they are paid with the balancing payment by 31 January. Source: GOV.UK, payments on account.
• Lifetime ISA and pension wording: pages that called the 25% Lifetime ISA charge a “penalty” now use GOV.UK’s term, the withdrawal charge. The Lifetime ISA tip said the account had to be held for 12 months before a purchase; the purchase must be at least 12 months after the first payment in. Employer pension contributions are no longer called “free money” or a “guaranteed” return. Source: GOV.UK, Lifetime ISA withdrawals.
• Homepage, menus and guides: the homepage now opens with a written introduction (what the site is, who it is for, how figures are checked and who publishes it) in place of link lists, and its “New” labels were removed. The menus no longer show page counts, the embed and newsletter pages were withdrawn, and the adviser box in 20 guides was replaced by a one-line pointer to the guide to choosing a qualified adviser.

• Options section rewritten and corrected: the 53 options pages now work from one dated set of assumptions and one set of conventions, and each page lists its own sources with the date each was checked. The corrections include the tax of buying back a written option (TCGA 1992 s148), the 30-day matching rule, who pays stamp duty reserve tax on exercise, the ICE 100-share mini options, the 1 January 2029 date for US section 871(m), broker claims that could not be verified, and the FTSE 100 model level and dividend yield. Four pages were merged into others and redirect. The full list follows.

Options section: the full list of corrections

The options section was rewritten between 26 and 28 September 2026. It now has 53 pages, and every worked figure is worked from one dated set of assumptions and checked before each update (see how the options worked examples are built). The pages no longer carry their own "earlier versions of this page" notices. Each entry below says what was wrong and what the page says now.

Corrections that applied across the section

• Buying back a written option (s148). Several pages treated a written option's premium as a gain that stood "whatever happens next". A buy-back is a cost of the original grant under TCGA 1992 s148 and belongs to the grant's tax year; on assignment the premium moves into the share sale or purchase (s144(2)); and a cash-settled option settled against the writer is one transaction dated at settlement (s144A(2)).
• How many computations. "Five taxable events per Wheel turn" and "taxed on 14 times the credit" were replaced by one counting rule: a closed vertical is two computations, a closed iron condor four, and a fully assigned Wheel turn one share computation plus any grants that lapsed or were bought back.
• Across 5 April. A short option written in March and bought back in May belongs, net, to the grant year, and nothing is amended unless a return was already filed. Pages that said a return "is amended" now describe the effect as relief deferred to the next year.
• 30-day and same-day matching. Shares acquired on assignment or exercise are matched with a sale of the same shares in the previous 30 days (TCGA 1992 s106A), and options of one series are matched the same way (HMRC CG55535). Two pages said written options of one series pool under s104; that was wrong.
• Who pays stamp duty reserve tax. The 0.5% SDRT on exercise or assignment is paid by the buyer of the shares: the call holder who exercises, or the put writer who is assigned (Finance Act 1986 s91; HMRC STSM113030). Pages that put it on the assigned call writer were corrected, and the cash-secured put's maximum loss now includes it.
• Lapsed options. The loss on a lapsed option is now cited to TCGA 1992 s144(4) and HMRC CG55536 and CG55415, not CG12340, which is the general rule that abandoning an asset is not a disposal.
• ICE mini options. Pages said newer ICE standard series are 100 shares. Standard ICE UK stock options are 1,000 shares; about 22 large UK names also have a separate 100-share mini option, listed from 8 December 2025 (ICE Circular 25/123). BP is not one of them.
• US dividend-equivalent withholding (section 871(m)). The start date for options was given as 1 January 2027. IRS Notice 2026-61 moved it to 1 January 2029.
• Broker claims. A "USD 2,000 margin minimum" and "limited purchase and sale of options in a cash account" attributed to Interactive Brokers could not be found on its pages and were removed. The USD 2,000 margin-account minimum at a US broker is FINRA Rule 4210(b)(4), not Regulation T. Portfolio margin is an optional upgrade, not what permits uncovered writing, and covered calls and fully cash-secured puts can be written in a cash account.
• FTSE 100 level, yields and dividend dates. Examples used a FTSE 100 of 8,000, 9,000 or 10,500 against a real level of about 10,700 to 10,850 in August and September 2026. All pages now use a 10,750 model level and a 3.05% dividend yield. BP dividend inputs of 3.5% to 5.4% were replaced by the real ex-date (12 November 2026), or by no dividend where no ex-date falls in the option's life, and BP dates that had not been announced (results on 27 October, ex-dividend on 8 October) were removed.
• Pensions and ISAs. SIPP statements now say we could not find an administrator that permits options (checked 28 September 2026), rather than stating that none does. No ISA can hold an option.
• US hours. The daylight-saving mismatch is three windows (26 to 30 October 2026, 15 to 26 March 2027 and 1 to 5 November 2027), not "two weeks", and the US industry exercise cut-off is 22:30 UK time (21:30 in those weeks), not "after 10 pm".
• Probabilities and time decay. Delta is not the chance of profit: a 0.30-delta call on the basics example has a 28.2% model probability of finishing in the money and 22.4% of finishing above breakeven. At-the-money time decay is largest in the last days, not smallest.
• Wording. Entry "gates", "ACTION" lines, "no exceptions" rules and suitability claims were removed. The conventions the worked examples follow are described once, on the methods page, as teaching conventions with no evidence that they give an edge.

Page by page

• UK options tax worked examples: the long-call example said selling at expiry realised a gain when, at its own inputs, it was a loss; the rolled-put example bought back a put after its expiry date; the exchange-rate section no longer accepts one yearly average for both legs or converts a net dollar gain (each leg is converted at its own date's rate, CG78310); the one-contract US commission is the $1.00 order minimum; SDRT in the share cost is labelled a derived reading.
• Planner: a called-away call's premium is added to the share sale proceeds (s144(2)(a)), and is taxed at grant only if the call lapses or is bought back; the expected-move band is lognormal and cannot go below zero; the premium yield headlines time value, not intrinsic value; the strategy finder no longer ranked a bear call spread first for a bullish income search, and it is now called the strategy page finder.
• Diagonal, calendar and poor man's covered call: the diagonal taxed five bought-back grants on their gross premiums (£720, CGT £172.80) instead of their s148 net result, sold its back leg below intrinsic value and used an October BP ex-date that had not been announced; the calendar double-counted bid-ask costs and priced BP's results and ex-date inside an example meant to have no event; the poor man's covered call used an off-tick LEAP price.
• Bear call and bull put spreads: a BP ex-dividend date of 8 October 2026, which BP had not announced, was removed and the October calls repriced with no dividend; the bull put example moved from BP to HSBC and its FTSE 100 alternative from 8,800/8,750 strikes to strikes near 10,750.
• Short straddle and short strangle: the one-times-credit stop fires beyond the breakevens, not before them; the put margin minimum is 10% of the exercise price; a closed straddle or strangle is two computations; the strangle's stop rationale, tested-strike gamma path and early put assignment direction were corrected.
• Ratio spread, backspread and broken-wing butterfly: the ratio page's best case was "a £324.20 loss after tax", but legs closed in one tax year net off (the peak case is a £3,159.90 gain, £758.38 CGT at 24%); its call-side mirror opens for a 39-point debit rather than breaking even 0.69 standard deviations out; breaking the put wing saves £185 (18.5%), not £125, and the model probability of the maximum loss is 19.1% with the section’s volatility skew, not 15.1%; the backspread page said a £1,785 grant stayed chargeable after an in-year net loss; trades dated 14 August were counted as 60 days to 16 October (63 days; they are now dated Monday 17 August).
• Options basics: ICE standard series are 1,000 shares (see above); the cash-secured put's maximum loss includes 0.5% SDRT on assignment; the investment-adviser signpost now points to the FCA register and MoneyHelper rather than a tax-adviser page.
• Option income and the covered-call ETF page: the reason given for the 21-day convention (time decay smallest in the last three weeks) was wrong for at-the-money options; a Tesco roll example with off-tick premiums moved to the rolling page; conflicting profit-taking rules were removed; the ETF page's 1.5% monthly premium on a call 3% out of the money needed about 22.8% implied volatility, and is now priced at 1.68% at the money and 0.49% 3% out of the money; an allocation recommendation was removed.
• FTSE 100 options: a cash-settled FTSE option is taxed under s144A (the page cited s144(2)); the hedge example set one £80,000 contract against a £50,000 portfolio without showing it was over-hedged, and now works the hedge ratio with a scenario table; SPX ticks and a.m./p.m. settlement were corrected; "near 24x5" and unsourced statistics were removed.
• Broker comparison and US options: the broker page said "we can verify four" and left out Robinhood UK, Webull UK and DEGIRO; a Saxo SIPP cell read as allowing options; an unsourced claim that two brokers dropped the pattern day trader rule on day one was removed; IG's micro futures commission (USD 0.85; IG shows USD 0.75) and unverified share-dealing charges were removed; two in-body correction notices (FSCS shown for every broker, and covered calls in an ISA) moved to this log.
• Greeks and put-call parity: guaranteed-return structures are now cited to ITTOIA 2005 Part 4 Chapter 2A (s381A, disguised interest); the old Chapter 12 was repealed. An IV-rank trading rule was removed.
• SA108 reporting: "CGT or nothing" was wrong: the alternatives are capital gains or trading income, and spread bets sit outside both.
• Glossary: rewritten with 254 terms. Corrections include the 0DTE time-decay claim, the contract multiplier, the assignment tax treatment, the Wheel's tax count, the definition of implied volatility, US tick sizes (penny classes; QQQ, SPY and IWM at $0.01), W-8BEN validity (to the end of the third calendar year after signing), COBS 10A, and house "gates" removed from definitions.
• Merged pages: the big lizard page (a 9,000-level FTSE example with an IV-rank entry gate) is now a section of the jade lizard page, repriced at a FTSE 100 level of 10,750 with the section’s volatility skew; the defined-risk page merged into Level 2, the beginners page into options basics, and the tax and platforms page into the SA108 page. The old addresses redirect.

• Authorship: pages had described an "editorial team"; the site is written and edited by one person. Bylines and structured data now credit UK Tax Drag and its publisher, Finsolve Consulting Limited, and the trust pages say plainly that the site is written and edited by one person.
• Trust pages corrected: they no longer describe a second editor, a specialist panel or an editorial team, because the site is written and edited by one person. The AI statement now says that pages are drafted, edited and coded with the help of AI tools, and that every tax figure and rule is checked against a primary source before publication. Substantive corrections are now listed on this page.
• Site statistics corrected: page, calculator and glossary counts on the home page, Trust Centre and press kit had fallen out of date and now use rounded current figures.
• Tax adviser listing: the disclosure on the adviser listing was reworded, replacing wording that misdated the relationship.
• Children's education section: the children's material now lives on a separate, ad-free site, and the remaining print packs, files and links for it have been removed from this site.
• APP scam refund checker: expanded to explain who the bank transfer scam reimbursement rules cover, what to do first, how banks decide claims and how to escalate a refusal, with worked examples.
• Salary take-home pages: all 27 take-home pages said the tax calculator handles Scotland, bonuses, benefits in kind and multiple jobs. It does not, and those lines were removed. On the £65,000, £70,000, £85,000, £90,000 and £95,000 pages, the Child Benefit charge sections now say the charge can be paid through a PAYE tax code as well as Self Assessment.
• Press kit: a fiscal drag figure that did not match the Fiscal Drag Tracker's own data was replaced with the official Budget 2025 estimate, and the Self Assessment figure now uses HMRC's published count of returns.
• Response times: the contact page, press kit and corrections policy now give the same targets: a reply or acknowledgement within 5 working days, and confirmed errors corrected within 21 working days. The promise of same-day urgent corrections was withdrawn.
• Threshold freeze date: the site's tax constants file said Income Tax thresholds were frozen until April 2028. Since Budget 2025 the freeze runs until 5 April 2031.
• About page: it said ads stay out of the calculators. Google places ads automatically and they can appear on calculator pages, so the page now says so.
• HMRC guide links: links on other pages now use the new title of the independent guide to HMRC letters, codes and penalties.

• Options pages: corrected the capital gains tax treatment of written options and buy-backs on the options hub and several strategy pages, with citations to the HMRC Capital Gains Manual and the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992. Broker details and several worked examples were also corrected.

• Contact: the site's email addresses were removed because the domain could not receive email. Enquiries and corrections now go through the contact form.
• Newsletter and scenario sync paused: newsletter sign-ups and email sign-in for saved scenarios are paused until email delivery is in place. Scenarios saved in your browser keep working.

• Stale and incorrect facts on eight pages: a worked example in the 60% tax trap guide used the wrong basic-rate band and National Insurance figure; examples in the ISA guide that did not add up were rewritten; two pages still showed the previous year's basic State Pension rates; the State Pension triple lock page had one wrong historical rate; the personal allowance page gave the wrong end date for the threshold freeze; and two crypto pages wrongly described how HMRC receives data from crypto exchanges.
• About, privacy and calculators pages: the about page had described adviser review; it now describes review by the Editor only, the privacy page now describes the consent banner that actually runs, and a developer note shown to readers on the calculators page was removed.

• Energy price cap: Ofgem's confirmed October to December 2026 price cap was added to the energy price cap guide, and three energy pages still quoting the July to September cap were updated.

• Options pages, 75 errors: a full check of the options section against GOV.UK, HMRC manuals and providers' own documentation found 75 errors, which were corrected at the time (further options corrections followed on 5 and 28 September). They included a section that gave incorrect information about writing options inside an ISA, risk figures on the position-sizing page that were 100 times too small, a broker comparison that showed the same FSCS cover for every broker, and brokers listed as offering options when they do not.

• Consent-gated analytics: for visitors in the UK, the EEA and Switzerland, Google Analytics now loads only after they accept analytics cookies. Visitors who reject never download it.

• Additional-rate band: on the high-earner take-home pages, the salary map, salary hub cards, city guides and cost-of-living tables, the 45% band started at the wrong level of taxable income. Every affected figure was recalculated.
• Calculators: sixteen calculator engines, including the tax calculator and the salary sacrifice calculator, used the wrong band edges for some high earners. All were fixed and tested.
• Scottish income tax: Scottish figures on 32 pages were rebuilt on the 2026/27 bands.
• Other pages: further corrections were made to the High Income Child Benefit Charge, inheritance tax business relief, renting, student loan, State Pension and gilt pages, and to the methodology page.

• Premium Bonds: the prize fund rate was wrong on seven pages. It was corrected, and every figure that depended on it was recalculated.
• Making Tax Digital: quarterly update deadlines were wrong on the Making Tax Digital guide, the tax calendar and the freelancer guide, and have been corrected.

• Budget summary: now lists the Budget's specific measures rather than only the threshold freeze.
• Energy price cap: the guide and energy bills hub now carry the cap Ofgem announced for July to September 2026.

• Stamp Duty: a group of pages written before the rise in the additional-property surcharge and the change to first-time buyer relief still used the old figures. All were corrected and their worked examples recalculated, and the buy-to-let calculator's stamp duty bands were fixed.
• Student loans and Scottish tax: student loan repayment thresholds and Scottish income tax bands were updated to 2026/27 on about 16 pages.
• Statutory figures: out-of-date figures for the FSCS deposit protection limit, the full new State Pension, the VAT registration threshold, the electric company car benefit-in-kind rate and the dividend tax rates were corrected wherever they appeared.
• Worked examples: errors were fixed on the family income benefit, mortgage overpayment and energy tariff pages.

• Charts: calculator charts show values on hover, can be read with the keyboard and mark reference lines; six calculators (compound interest, FIRE, ISA vs GIA, mortgage, salary sacrifice, student loan) use them.
• PDF summaries: every calculator can save a two-page PDF of its inputs, result, chart and year-by-year figures.
• Review dates and sources: every calculator shows the date it was last reviewed, with links to this page and the methodology, and lists the official sources it uses (HMRC, GOV.UK, the FCA, the Bank of England, the ONS and MoneyHelper).
• Keyboard shortcuts: press ? for the list (site search, dark mode, chart navigation, PDF).
• Editorial policy: expanded to cover the order in which sources are used, fact-checking, conflicts of interest and the use of AI tools.

• New tools: tax code decoder, HMRC letter decoder, tax-year transition checker, Self Assessment readiness checklist, side-hustle tax wizard.
• New pages: Independence statement, Open methodology, Changelog (this page).
• Content: per-calculator methodology pages framework introduced; first five calculators get dedicated formula explainers.
• Cross-linking: every technical term on calculators and guides now auto-links to the matching glossary entry on first occurrence.
• Reading time and printing: longer pages show a reading time, and every calculator has a print summary.
• RSS feed: new and updated pages are listed at /rss.xml.

• Breadcrumbs: content pages show where they sit in the site.
• Related calculators 3-card footer module on every calculator (41 pages), with category-aware and hand-tuned cross-links.
• Sources & references panel on the 7 calculators that lacked topic-specific HMRC / FCA / MoneyHelper citations.
• Trust block added below every calculator: the last-reviewed date and a disclaimer.
• Two new policy pages: Terms of Use and Content Disclaimer.

• Accessibility: skip-to-content links added to the pages that lacked them.

• Security: stricter browser security settings, including a content security policy and HTTPS-only connections.

• 2026/27 tax year goes live. All calculators updated to the 2026/27 rates and thresholds: Income Tax bands, NI rates, dividend allowance (£500), CGT rates and AEA, ISA allowances, pension annual allowance, SDLT bands, Child Benefit HICBC threshold (£60,000), and the residential CGT 60-day reporting rule.