Learn how UK tax really works

Understanding how your own tax works is worth real money, and almost nobody explains it plainly.

The rules are not simple. There are hidden high-tax bands, cliffs that cost thousands of pounds at a single pound of extra income, and reliefs most people never claim. I have taken the time to pick the system apart, check every figure against HMRC, and write it down clearly. These guides are the result, and each one earns its place: if a page would not genuinely help you understand or act, it is not here.

Is there a part of your own tax you want explained that is not here yet? Ask me to write a guide.

• The £100,000 tax trap

  Why your marginal rate hits about 62% between £100,000 and £125,140, the childcare cliff that makes it worse, and how to climb out.

• The child benefit tax charge

  Why child benefit is clawed back between £60,000 and £80,000, what it does to your real tax rate, and how a pension contribution keeps it.