Heres the heap to be joking . But inaugurate confident you in order bankroll your taxes! Read Mr Scrooge as the Inland Revenue, Hacienda or portion other tax authority you care to name!

Its not all bad news though when it comes to keeping as much of your hard-earned money away from Scrooges coffers. Despite the various and continuing attempts to close doors that allow for him to be beaten, there remain options open to beat him!

For example, a lot of folk here are retired and rely heavily on pension and investment income. They probably get taxed on both subject to levels of income and, for their investments, where and how their capital is placed. Despite the EU Directive implemented in the summer of 2005 to apply a withholding on certain incomes and also to allow reporting to revenue authorities, there remain windows that can be exploited legitimately to avoid both. That can make a big difference to ordinary folk; a saving of 30% of your income is not to be ignored.

And then there is question as to whether borrowing to buy here, or even to release equity, is viable. When you consider the potential economic benefits of doing so, especially via Interest Only mortgages, it is surprising to me that anyone would want to repay a mortgage using capital and interest, if ever! The effects of cheap financing, positive investment returns long term, mitigating Inheritance Tax and so on, make the decision pretty clear cut in my eyes. But then I am bound to say that I hear you say! But numbers seldom lie if you take the time to scrutinise them fully and the tax man has a habit of doing that! So why not take a leaf out of his book and see if you can beat him at his own game?

Merry Christmas to all of our readers and especially to Mr Scrooge!

Mark Mountney is a partner in Rose Financial Services, a specialist mortgage brokerage based in the Parque Comercial, Mojacar. He is a fully qualified mortgage and financial adviser in the UK with some 10 years experience in managing his own firm. Mark was also a founder of The Association of Mortgage Advisors, the trade association for mortgage intermediaries with 13,000 members.