Closing an ISA and opening an new one in the same tax year

Reevus

Hi all,

This question has been answered a few times but I want to double check.

I opened a Help to Buy ISA 10 days ago and paid £1 into it. I've changed my mind and decided I want to open a cash ISA with Nutmeg, Nutmeg doesn't allow ISA transfers unfortunately. So the option I have is to close my barclays account and open the new Cash ISA with Nutmeg. However because I've paid £1 into my Help to Buy ISA does this mean it's against the law to open a new one with Nutmeg and start paying into that before the next tax year starts?

Thanks in advance!

ColdIron

Nutmeg says it doesn't do cash ISAs

• Every year the government gives you a tax-free allowance in the form of an Individual Savings Account (ISA). There are two main sorts of ISA — a Cash ISA and a Stocks and Shares ISA. Nutmeg offers only Stocks and Shares ISAs

https://www.nutmeg.com/isas

Reevus

Sorry I meant Stocks & Shares ISA

ColdIron

Nutmeg says it does do tranfers

• You can transfer both Cash ISAs and Stocks and Shares ISAs to Nutmeg. In both cases, they will be managed as Stocks and Shares ISAs.

https://www.nutmeg.com/isas/how-to-transfer-an-isa

Hope this helps

Reevus

Thanks, I asked them and they won't transfer Help to Buy ISAs

ColdIron

A help to buy ISA is a cash ISA, are you sure you didn't give them the impression that you wanted to transfer to another HTB?

No matter though as you are allowed to subscribe to both a cash ISA and a Stocks and Shares ISA in the same tax year

AirlieBird

Check the terms of your HTB ISA. There is usually a 14 day cancellation period for opening an ISA. If you exercise a cancellation within the permitted period you will not have subscribed to the ISA.

Reevus

I just checked Barclays and they have exactly that! I can cancel within 14 days... perfect! Thanks everyone

eskbanker

If you're a first-time buyer (based on opening a HTB ISA) then have you considered opening a Lifetime ISA with Nutmeg rather than just a plain S&S ISA? There are various limitations (£4K annual allowance, must be open for a year before use, etc) but it does offer a tempting 25% government bonus....