What's left
The Pension That Becomes an Estate
For a decade the advice was to spend everything else first and leave the pension alone. From April 2027 that reverses, and a great many wills and nominations were written on the old assumption.
For the self-employed commercial Bar
The money side of practice, explained plainly.
Tax, pensions, reserves and protection at the self-employed Bar work differently from anywhere else. This is generic education on how they work. Not advice, and never a recommendation.
Live right now
The second MTD deadline is 7 November
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax has applied since 6 April 2026 to anyone with gross income over £50,000, which is essentially every practising member of a commercial set, because the threshold is gross receipts rather than profit. The first quarterly deadline fell on 7 August. The next covers 6 July to 5 October and is due on 7 November. Updates are cumulative, so anything wrong in the first one is corrected by filing the second properly.
The tax year, four times overThe basis period tail is still running
Transition profits are spread across 2023/24 to 2027/28. Anyone who had a 30 April year end, which is most of the Bar, still has a slice landing in 2026/27 and a final one in 2027/28, on a return that otherwise looks like a normal year. It behaves differently from ordinary profit, and not always in the direction people expect.
The slice you forgot aboutFigures are based on current legislation and individual circumstances differ. This is general information, not personal advice.
Guides
Six areas where the Bar's finances work differently from everyone else's. Start wherever the pressure is.
The tax year, four times over
Making Tax Digital, quarterly updates, the basis period tail, payments on account and VAT cash accounting.
Read the guideNobody is paying into a pension for you
The annual allowance, the taper, carry forward against lumpy receipts, and the LSA / LSDBA.
Read the guideThe downside
No sick pay, income protection and own-occupation definitions, parental leave at the self-employed Bar, and life cover in trust.
Read the guideMoney that isn't yours yet
Aged debt, tax reserves, where reserve cash should actually sit, and direct gilts for additional-rate taxpayers.
Read the guideSilk, the bench, and stopping
The income shape change on taking silk, the judicial pension and its annual allowance problem, and decumulation with no fixed retirement date.
Read the guideWhat's left
Inheritance tax at the £1m+ band, gifting, trusts, and pensions entering the estate from April 2027.
Read the guide
How Altor charges
£852 a month.
The same fee for every client, whatever the size of the portfolio, agreed before you start. Not a percentage of your assets.
The work involved in advising a practice does not scale with the size of a portfolio, so neither does the fee. Above roughly £1m invested, a flat fee is usually cheaper than the percentage equivalent, and the gap widens from there. A lower fee applies where needs are simpler.
About AltorThe Practising Certificate
From the Journal
Silk, the bench, and stopping
Silk, and the Year After
The difficult second album is a well-documented phenomenon: the same talent, a larger audience, and considerably less time to work it out. Taking silk has a similar shape and rather better notice.
Money that isn't yours yet
Money That Isn't Yours Yet
A solicitor who mixes client money with office money faces the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. A barrister holding eighteen months of tax reserve in a current account faces nothing at all, which is not the same as it being fine.