UK Tax Drag is a UK personal finance publication producing educational content on tax, pensions, investing, property, and life-event money decisions. We follow seven editorial standards: accuracy first, primary-source citation, transparent methodology, no affiliate revenue, visible review dates, Editor review, and open corrections. The corrections policy explains how errors are handled, and the methodology explains how the calculators are built.
The seven standards
1. Accuracy first
Every figure, threshold, rate, allowance, deadline, and calculation cited on the site is checked against the primary source (HMRC, ONS, OBR, FCA, NS&I, the Pensions Regulator, GOV.UK, or the legislation itself) before publication. We use 2026/27 tax-year figures throughout, rechecked after each Budget and at the start of each tax year. Calculator outputs are tested against HMRC's official tools where available, and against published worked examples for cases HMRC doesn't directly publish.
2. Primary-source citation
Every editorial page that quantifies anything (rates, allowances, thresholds, eligibility tests) links to the underlying primary source at the bottom under "Sources and methodology." We link directly to GOV.UK guidance, HMRC manuals, FCA handbooks, and primary legislation rather than to secondary commentary.
3. Transparent methodology
The methodology page documents how the core calculators are built: the inputs they expect, the formulas they apply and the assumptions they make. High-risk calculators also have automated test cases in data/calculator-fixtures.json, checked on every build. The methodology is rechecked at the start of each tax year, and substantive changes are listed in the changelog.
4. No affiliate revenue
UK Tax Drag has zero affiliate commercial relationships with brokers, banks, IFAs, accountants, pension providers, or investment platforms. We have never accepted, and will never accept, payment in exchange for editorial coverage, ranking, or recommendation. The listing of Maze Tax Services is an unpaid editorial recommendation: no payment or referral fee is involved, and the Editor's personal connection with the firm is disclosed below. See how we make money for the full funding model.
5. Visible review dates
Every content page on UK Tax Drag carries a visible byline crediting UK Tax Drag, with the date of the last editorial check by the Editor. If the date is older than 12 months from your current date, treat the page as potentially out of date and verify any figures against HMRC. We don't publish content we're not committed to keeping current.
6. Editor review, and where a specialist is needed
All content is reviewed before publication by the Editor, a CIMA-qualified Chartered Management Accountant with more than ten years in corporate finance. A management accountant is not a chartered tax adviser or an FCA-authorised adviser, so where a topic needs specialist judgement (regulated pensions, complex CGT, IHT planning) the page says so and points to a qualified adviser. Practising specialists can apply to review content in their area, and any specialist who reviews a page will be named on it. The site has no other writers or reviewers; see the Editor page for how review works.
7. Open corrections
If a published page contains a factual error, calculation error, or out-of-date figure, we welcome corrections from readers. The corrections policy documents the route to report, the response time we commit to, and how corrections are recorded. Substantive corrections are listed with the date in the changelog.
What this means for you, the reader
- Numbers should be right. If you find a discrepancy with HMRC's published figures, report it.
- Sources should be clickable. Every quantitative claim should link to where it came from.
- Dates should be visible. "Last reviewed" appears near the top of every page.
- Recommendations should be honest. When we recommend a platform, calculator, or service, it's because we use it ourselves or have direct experience — never because we're paid.
- Calculations should be verifiable. The methodology page documents how every number is generated.
What this site is NOT
To be explicit about the boundaries:
- This is not regulated financial advice. UK Tax Drag is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Content is educational. Where you need regulated advice (specific investment recommendations, regulated pension transfers, mortgage advice), use an FCA-authorised IFA. See the disclaimer for the full position.
- This is not personalised tax advice. Every page is general guidance applied to typical UK situations. Complex tax situations require a qualified UK tax adviser — see the editorial recommendation.
- This is not free of error. Despite our best efforts, complex tax content has subtle issues that surface over time. The corrections policy is the route to flag anything.
- This is not a comparison site. We don't rank brokers, banks, or insurers. We describe how they work; we don't claim "best."
Editorial independence
UK Tax Drag is independently owned and operated. We are not part of, owned by, or financially connected to any UK or international financial services firm, bank, broker, accountancy firm, regulator, or government department. Our funding model (transparently documented at how we make money) is display advertising via Google AdSense, with no affiliate revenue, no sponsored content and no paid placements.
Conflict of interest disclosure
Where any potential conflict of interest exists — e.g. the editor of UK Tax Drag has used a particular platform — we disclose this on the relevant page. Currently active disclosures:
- Maze Tax Services editorial recommendation. The Editor has worked with Maze's founder for over 10 years. UK Tax Drag receives no payment, referral fee or other benefit from Maze. Documented at find-a-uk-tax-adviser.
No other disclosures currently apply. If our position changes (we onboard advertisers other than display AdSense, accept paid placements, develop affiliate relationships), the change will be disclosed here and on individual affected pages before any change in editorial content.
How we publish and review at scale
UK personal finance is unusual in that meaningful coverage genuinely requires breadth. A reader on a £40,000 salary, a reader on £125,000, a reader on a BR tax code, a reader on a K-prefix code, and a reader weighing a Class 3 voluntary NI top-up are each looking for a specific answer, not a generic article — so the site has a dedicated page for each of those questions and many more like them. Coverage is broad on purpose; it is not a substitute for editorial care.
Every page in a programmatic cluster — for example the £25k–£200k take-home pages, the why-is-my-tax-code-* explainers, or the per-city cost-of-living pages — carries per-page editorial commentary that is unique to that figure or that case. The £60,000 take-home page is the only page on the site that explains the HICBC interaction at that income; the £125,000 page is the only one that walks through the 60% trap escape arithmetic; the BR tax-code page is the only one that distinguishes second-job-correct from main-job-overpayment. The shared scaffolding (calculator, breakdown table, sources, sibling links) is identical across the cluster; the analytical core is not.
Our publication priority is maintenance over expansion. New pages are added when a real reader question is not yet answered well, not on a calendar. Every page carries a byline crediting UK Tax Drag, with the date of the last review by the Editor where one is recorded, and guides and calculators link to the sources behind their figures. When HMRC, ONS, FCA or the Bank of England update a number we model, the affected pages are re-reviewed and re-dated. Substantive corrections are listed with the date in the changelog, under the corrections policy.
If you find a page that does not meet that bar — boilerplate that does not say anything new, a figure that has moved, a calculation that does not match the worked example — we want to know. Use the contact form and we will fix it.
Updates to these standards
These editorial standards are a living document. When they change materially — e.g. we adopt a new sourcing rule, change the corrections process, develop a new disclosure category — the change is logged below with the date. Minor copy-edits are not logged.
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 14 September 2026 | Standard 6 is now Editor review, reflecting that the site is written and edited by one person. Corrections are listed in the changelog. The Maze Tax Services disclosure now states the Editor's own connection with the firm's founder. |
| 12 May 2026 | Initial publication of editorial standards as a separate page (previously a section in About). |
Trust documents on UK Tax Drag
- Editorial standards (this page)
- Editorial process — how content is researched and reviewed
- Corrections policy — how to report errors
- How we make money — funding transparency
- The Editor — who reviews content
- Changelog — dated updates and corrections
- Methodology — how calculators are built
- About UK Tax Drag — mission and ownership
- Disclaimer — legal position
- Trust Centre — all editorial trust documents in one place