ISA input/output question

tomstickland

If I have £3K + interest sat in an ISA account and withdraw some of the funds can I put any back in at a later date?

Can I open an ISA and pay into it over a period of months? If so, is only the money paid in counted towards the ISA, and interest is seperate? ie: how do they keep track of the £3K limit?

Aark

If I have £3K + interest sat in an ISA account and withdraw some of the funds can I put any back in at a later date?

If the £3,000 was deposited since 6 April 2005 then not until 6 April 2006. Otherwise, as you have a limit on deposits of £3,000 per tax year (ending 5 April), you can put some back in up to this limit.

Withdrawals have no effect whatsoever on ISA limits, for example:-
10 April 2005 - Deposit £2,000
20 September 2005 - Withdraw £1,000
30 December 2005 - Deposit £1,000
No further deposits can be made until 6 April.

Can I open an ISA and pay into it over a period of months?

Yes, unless the conditions on your specific account say otherwise.

If so, is only the money paid in counted towards the ISA, and interest is seperate?

Yes, interest does not count towards ISA limits, but can be retained within the ISA "wrapper".

ie: how do they keep track of the £3K limit?

I believe the bank/building society keeps a track of deposits and should reject overpayments.

tomstickland

OK, thanks, so the rule is that I can only move a total of £3K per year into any combination of whatever ISA accounts I have?

Does this mean that I could have 4 ISAs and pay into all of them as long as I didn't exceed £3K per year? Can I put another £3K into ISA no1 straight away on the 6th April 2006?

regularsaver1

You can only pay into one ISA in any one financial year

if say you paid £3000 into an isa today, and next week you withdrew £1000, then you'd still used your full £3000 allowance and would not be able to re-deposit the £1000 until next financial year

Banks can check with your NINO number if you have others

Aark

Assuming we are just talking about Mini Cash ISAs, you can only have one ISA at a time that contains deposits for the current tax year.

This means that once you open a ISA you cannot open another until next 6 April. However, you can transfer the money in one ISA to another as long as you keep the current tax year's money together in one ISA account.

tomstickland

OK, thanks, this is making sense now.

regularsaver1

i thought with the amount of posts you have made, that you would be the most knowledgeable here ha ha

tomstickland

Aha, well some things I know a lot about, other things not so much. I was aware of the £3K per year limit in ISAs, but wasn't clear on the exact details of how it applied. Now I know.