With just over month until the new Labour Government’s first Budget, speculation is rife as to what Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, will announce. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has set the cat among the pigeons by warning it will be ‘painful’.

Financial advisers and wealth managers are finding this to be one of the busiest periods outside of the usual tax year-end melee in recent memory, as anxious clients are concerned about measures that might be revealed. While it is unwise to take major financial decisions based solely on speculation, in certain areas there may be a case for bringing forward steps that make sense anyway whatever happens in the Budget.

The Chancellor is being urged by some to hike capital gains tax, which applies to the profits made when selling assets such as investments, second properties and businesses. Some lobby groups have been calling for CGT rates to be harmonised with income tax bands, which would raise the highest rates of CGT from 20% currently (24% on residential property) to as much as 47% in Scotland. Such an aggressive move would result in the UK having one of the highest CGT rates among developed nations globally and would disincentivise investment and risk stifling entrepreneurialism.

Those concerned about the potential for increases in CGT might consider crystallising gains on shares and other investments before the Budget. Usually, tax changes kick in from the start of the next tax year, but there is a precedent for a mid-year change and so it cannot be ruled out. On June 22 2010, the then Chancellor George Osborne took most people off guard by announcing in his emergency Budget an increase in the rate of CGT from 18% to 28% with effect from midnight.

Each individual has a £3,000 annual capital gains allowance this year where profits can be realised without being subject to tax. But before crystallising a gain that might exceed this, investors who are married or in a civil partnership have the option to first transfer some of the investment to their partner, as these ‘interspousal transfers’ will not trigger a taxable event. This will enable them to make use of two sets of annual capital gains exemptions.

Where any gains made exceed the two annual allowances combined, an overall tax liability can be reduced by ensuring that the taxable gain is realised by whichever spouse might be subject to a lower tax band.

A further way to protect this wealth from CGT, is to use the proceeds from the sale of the investments to open individual savings accounts (ISAs) where future returns will be protected from tax. This is known as a ‘Bed and ISA’ transaction and is easy to do but will take at least a few days.

Where using an ISA allowance is not an option and the intention is to repurchase the same shares that are being been sold to crystallise a gain, it is important to wait at least 30 days before doing so outside of an ISA, otherwise the investor will be deemed to have bought the investment back at the original cost and not realised any gains.

Another area under scrutiny is the tax reliefs available on pension contributions. Currently these are provided at the saver’s marginal income tax rate, making pensions particularly attractive for higher, advanced and top rate taxpayers. There has been speculation about the future of these reliefs for many years, potentially replacing them with a flat rate. Could the Budget finally see a move to reduce the generosity of these reliefs for higher earners? It cannot be ruled out.

While an immediate change to these tax reliefs following the Budget is very unlikely as it would be a major change to put into practice, those who were already contemplating injecting a large lump sum into their pension pot might think about doing so while the current system is in place.

Once the current year pension allowance has been maximised (a gross contribution of potentially up to £60k), it is also possible to mop up unused annual allowances from the three previous years under "carry forward" rules – as long as the total contribution is not greater than relevant earnings in the current tax year. It is wise to seek out some advice to work out how much you could contribute and still benefit from the tax reliefs, as this will depend on your circumstances.

Those over 55 years old typically have the option of taking 25% of their pension pot as a tax-free cash lump sum up to a cap of £268,275. Savers have been panicked by a recent proposal from the Institute for Fiscal Studies to reduce the cap to £100,000.

Taking tax-free cash now may make sense for those who were planning to do this shortly anyway and have a clear intended use for it, such as paying down a mortgage. However, what is very unwise is to take a quarter of your pension out as cash if you don’t need it, which could result in a large sum of money left languishing in a taxable savings account, rather than continuing to grow tax efficiently within a pension.

Next month’s UK Budget could turn out to be the most consequential in years. But a lot of the moves being speculated may not come to pass. It is wise to wait for the details, take advice and then plan accordingly rather than make rash decisions.

Jason Hollands is a managing director at wealth manager Evelyn Partners, which has offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.