ISA Rules

FUNDSS

Hi all, bit of a noob question here, but I want to be clear. I have recently become aware you can only pay into one Innovative Finance ISA a year. While I am also aware that you can open one S&S and a cash ISA every tax year, I am unaware if you can pay into more than one S&S ISA and more than one cash ISA in a tax year. Can anyone clear this up please? I know you can have more than one of the latter two, but not if you can contribute to more than one in the same tax year if you're not exceeding the limit.

Any help would be really appteciated! 

eskbanker

The rule is summarised concisely at https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts:

There are 4 types of ISA:

• cash ISAs
• stocks and shares ISAs
• innovative finance ISAs
• Lifetime ISAs

You can put money into one of each kind of ISA each tax year.

FUNDSS

eskbanker said:

The rule is summarised concisely at https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts:

There are 4 types of ISA:

• cash ISAs
• stocks and shares ISAs
• innovative finance ISAs
• Lifetime ISAs

You can put money into one of each kind of ISA each tax year.

I thought LISAs would count as either a Cash or S&S ISA? Does that mean I can put money into a Vamguard S&S and open a Blackrock S&S and make one initial transfer into this or is it just not allowed? 

eskbanker

FUNDSS said:

eskbanker said:

The rule is summarised concisely at https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts:

There are 4 types of ISA:

• cash ISAs
• stocks and shares ISAs
• innovative finance ISAs
• Lifetime ISAs

You can put money into one of each kind of ISA each tax year.

I thought LISAs would count as either a Cash or S&S ISA?

No, as above, Lifetime ISAs are their own type.

FUNDSS said:
Does that mean I can put money into a Vamguard S&S and open a Blackrock S&S and make one initial transfer into this or is it just not allowed? 

If you mean 'transfer' in the sense of using the ISA transfer process to move money from another S&S ISA funded in a prior tax year then yes, you can pay new money into one S&S ISA and transfer old money into another one.

FUNDSS

eskbanker said:

FUNDSS said:

eskbanker said:

The rule is summarised concisely at https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts:

There are 4 types of ISA:

• cash ISAs
• stocks and shares ISAs
• innovative finance ISAs
• Lifetime ISAs

You can put money into one of each kind of ISA each tax year.

I thought LISAs would count as either a Cash or S&S ISA?

No, as above, Lifetime ISAs are their own type.

FUNDSS said:
Does that mean I can put money into a Vamguard S&S and open a Blackrock S&S and make one initial transfer into this or is it just not allowed? 

If you mean 'transfer' in the sense of using the ISA transfer process to move money from another S&S ISA funded in a prior tax year then yes, you can pay new money into one S&S ISA and transfer old money into another one.

Thanks. But could you keep adding after that? So if you transferred £100 from an old tax year, you couldn't add another penny if you'd pay into an equivalent ISA (eg S&S). 

FUNDSS

FUNDSS said:

eskbanker said:

FUNDSS said:

eskbanker said:

The rule is summarised concisely at https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts:

There are 4 types of ISA:

• cash ISAs
• stocks and shares ISAs
• innovative finance ISAs
• Lifetime ISAs

You can put money into one of each kind of ISA each tax year.

I thought LISAs would count as either a Cash or S&S ISA?

No, as above, Lifetime ISAs are their own type.

FUNDSS said:
Does that mean I can put money into a Vamguard S&S and open a Blackrock S&S and make one initial transfer into this or is it just not allowed? 

If you mean 'transfer' in the sense of using the ISA transfer process to move money from another S&S ISA funded in a prior tax year then yes, you can pay new money into one S&S ISA and transfer old money into another one.

Thanks. But could you keep adding after that? So if you transferred £100 from an old tax year, you couldn't add another penny if you'd pay into an equivalent ISA (eg S&S). 

Payed into, I should say. 

eskbanker

FUNDSS said:

FUNDSS said:

eskbanker said:

FUNDSS said:
Does that mean I can put money into a Vamguard S&S and open a Blackrock S&S and make one initial transfer into this or is it just not allowed? 

If you mean 'transfer' in the sense of using the ISA transfer process to move money from another S&S ISA funded in a prior tax year then yes, you can pay new money into one S&S ISA and transfer old money into another one.

Thanks. But could you keep adding after that? So if you transferred £100 from an old tax year, you couldn't add another penny if you'd pay into an equivalent ISA (eg S&S). 

Payed into, I should say. 

No, you can only pay new money into one S&S ISA in any tax year.

badger09

FUNDSS said:

eskbanker said:

The rule is summarised concisely at https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts:

There are 4 types of ISA:

• cash ISAs
• stocks and shares ISAs
• innovative finance ISAs
• Lifetime ISAs

You can put money into one of each kind of ISA each tax year.

I thought LISAs would count as either a Cash or S&S ISA? Does that mean I can put money into a Vamguard S&S and open a Blackrock S&S and make one initial transfer into this or is it just not allowed? 

As eskbanker has explained, you can only pay new money into one ISA of each type, each tax year.

BUT I think you might be further confused. Think of an S&S ISA as a (tax free) envelope to hold your investments

If you hold your S&S ISA envelope on the Vanguard platform, you can only invest in Vanguard Funds/ETFs, as that is all they sell.
Blackrock don't offer S&S ISAs. You have to use an online broker/platform to invest in their funds.

SO if you hold your S&S ISA on a platform such as IWEB, Cavendish Online, Hargreaves Lansdown, etc, then you can invest up to your ISA limit (£20k less whatever you've paid into other ISA types) every year into a mix of funds from Vanguard, Blackrock, and many others (as well as individual company shares) inside your ISA envelope.

Hope I haven't made it worse