paying the increased ISA allowance into a Halifax fixed rate ISA

LesU wrote: »

And then check it on a daily basis in case any one has become 50 and now is eligible or has jumped the gun and is ineligible.

There is no need to check age every day. The software only needs to check the date of birth of an account holder once on 6th October (or on account opening if this is later than 6th October). If their DoB is before 6th April 1960 they have a cash ISA allowance of £5,100, otherwise they have an allowance of £3,600.

Here is a function that calculates the cash ISA allowance for someone.

function Allowance(taxyear as int, DoB as date, Today as date)
.....if (taxyear >= 2010) then
..........// Next year and beyond
..........Allowance = 5100
.....else
..........// This year
..........if (Today < Date("6/10/2009") then
...............// Keep allowance at 3600 until 6th October. This is just an administrative restriction
...............Allowance = 3600
..........else if (DoB >= Date("6/5/1960")) then
...............// if person does not turn 50 this tax year their allowance doesn't change
...............Allowance = 3600
..........else
...............// If a person turns 50 this tax year, they get the higher allowance now
...............Allowance = 5100
..........endif
.....endif
end function

Trying_to_be_good wrote: »

The 'over 50' rule applies to those aged 50 on 6 April 2010, i.e. with a birthday on or before 6 April 1960 - it's not a rolling programme. Much like the car scarappage for the £2,000 off a new car - the car has to be 'T' rag or older, even though early 'W' reg cars will be ten years old by March 2010, when the scheme is scheduled to stop.

The implication from this would be that a person aged 49 can put into an increased ISA after Oct. 6th, just as long as they turn 50 before Apr 6th 2010. I've not been reading this as a feature of the new legislation.

LesU wrote: »

The implication from this would be that a person aged 49 can put into an increased ISA after Oct. 6th, just as long as they turn 50 before Apr 6th 2010.

If Parliament approves the Draft legislation completed by Treasury 22nd April ... that is the reality (ie age 50 either before or during the year 09-10)

The ISA limit will be raised to £10,200, of which £5,100 can be held in cash. The new limit will apply to people aged 50 and over in 2009-10, with effect from 6 October 2009, and to all from 2010-11 onwards.

The 6th October date is cited as the enabling date for the 2009 amendments ..... but otherwise that date isn't quoted at all in the Regulations :-

These Regulations may be cited as the Individual Savings Account (Amendment) Regulations 2009 and shall come into force on 6th October 2009.