ISA question - 'has to be your money'

rogermhunt

Does anybody know exactly what this condition means in practice ('has to be your money')?

Has it got to be earned by that individual?

What if in addition to me investing £5000 in my existing ISA, I wanted to give my wife £5000 to invest in an ISA already in her name? Is this 'cheating' on the condition set out in the rules?

How are the rules policed?

Thanks

JoeCrystal

You can give/pay £5000 to your wife and she can invest/pay it in to her ISA.

Cheers,
Joe

McKneff

You can do that without a problem, it doesn't matter who earns it to be honest.

As long as you understand that once the money is put into an ISA in your wife's name, the money then belongs to your wife.

So it all depends on your relationship and how much you trust each other.

My OH and I did this for years, without a problem.

rogermhunt

Thanks both . . . . I feel a lot better now . . . . I was having worries about doing just that and then getting a call from HMRC some months/years later!!!

Nine_Lives

rogermhunt wrote: »

What if in addition to me investing £5000 in my existing ISA, I wanted to give my wife £5000 to invest in an ISA already in her name? Is this 'cheating' on the condition set out in the rules?

Personally, if you were set on doing that, i would suggest you put £5,760 into yours & £4,240 into hers.

But i've done the same thing as you've just mentioned. I have enough funds to max out mine & the wifes ISAs for this year - so that's exactly what i've done.

We'll be buying a house this year so it makes little difference as the money will be leaving our accounts soon anyway.

Nine_Lives

It's his money, so i'd be having the majority of it in my own name. If he needs access to it, then he has access to £760 more than he would've done.

EDIT: Where's YorkshireBoy's reply gone, which is what i've just replied to with the above?

redbuzzard

Transfers between spouses or civil partners are exempt from inheritance tax and capital gains tax liabilities. Not so for cohabitees where a 'gift' could become liable to IHT and would count as a disposal for CGT purposes if you transferred an asset that that appreciated.

E&OE - I'm not a proper lawyer or tax expert.

YorkshireBoy

Nine_Lives wrote: »

It's his money, so i'd be having the majority of it in my own name. If he needs access to it, then he has access to £760 more than he would've done.

You haven't been married long have you? Remember uttering this at the ceremony?...

"All that I have I share with you"

I know you didn't specify 'equally', but that's the inference.

EDIT: Where's YorkshireBoy's reply gone, which is what i've just replied to with the above?

Sorry I decided it wasn't really relevant so deleted it. You were a bit too quick for me though.

Nine_Lives

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You haven't been married long have you? Remember uttering this at the ceremony?...

"All that I have I share with you"

I know you didn't specify 'equally', but that's the inference.

I know what you're saying, and you're right.

However, if you need that extra money & it's in your wifes account, then she's got to go into the branch to withdraw it (depending on what ISA it's in).

Let's say for example we're only talking about the Flexclusive ISA with Nationwide....

I myself barely get any Saturday's off work. If my wife had a lump & split it between our ISAs equally, but needed to withdraw a bit more than the equal amount somewhere down the line, then i would have to get to a branch to withdraw which is quite difficult for me.

So it's not an attempt to go down the "whats mine is mine" route, but instead down the route of convenience, as well as preference.

There's arguments for both sides, which are equally right. Nobody is wrong IMO, unless you start going down the road of arguing that this is in my account therefore it's all mine.

gadgetmind

My wife doesn't work yet does a full ISA every year and is fairly rich on paper as all of our investments are in her name. This is perfectly normal, natural, and legal.