Multiple Lifetime ISAs? HMRC bonus failure!

sta0612

Apologies if this has been asked already, I have scanned the most recent posts and have not found an answer.

I opened a Nutmeg S&S Lifetime ISA early this tax year (2017/18) and deposited the minimum of £100 to start my 'Lifetime ISA clock' ticking. I opened a Skipton Lifetime ISA in February 2018 and successfully transferred my H2B ISA. I was under the impression that I could amalgamate my S&S and cash ISAs at a later date, as per the advice on the main MSE article (point 4):

"It's worth bearing in mind that if you open multiple LISAs, each one needs to have been open for more than 12 months to qualify. However, there's a way around this. Simply transfer all the money into the oldest one before you buy – then it all counts."

I have just received an email from Skipton saying in order to receive this year's government bonus, I must close one of these ISAs ASAP.

Is this true? Thank you!

eskbanker

Yes it's true - you can pay into one and only one ISA of each type in any tax year, where the four types are cash, S&S, LISA and IFISA, so you can't pay into two different LISAs in the same tax year unless you transfer one to the other before the end of the tax year, i.e. you must only have one active LISA by the end of today.

Perhaps the wording in the MSE article is a little sloppy - it's not factually incorrect as such but shouldn't be read as implying that you can pay into more than one LISA in any given tax year.