Stocks & Shares ISA help (I was a tired idiot)

Underkat

Hi. I'm hoping someone can help.
I was playing around with stocks & shares company Trading 212 and accidently setup & funded (£1500) a Stocks & Shares ISA account with them. I meant to setup and fund a normal stock investment account instead. When I realised my mistake I withdrew the funds. I haven't used it to buy any stocks.

Problem is I actually want to setup a Halifax Stocks & Shares ISA. I know there is a rule about setting up 2 in the same financial year, but I wanted to ask is there a way I can, or basically not get in trouble if I setup one with Halifax anyway and just use that. Apologies if this is a stupid question but I just want to know so I don't miss out on the tax free allowance if there is a way around it.

FYI I have contacted HMRC and they said if I did setup a 2nd Stocks & Shares ISA then don't try to correct it myself. They will send a letter at the end of the financial year.

Thanks for any guidance. Yes I was an idiot.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

why not just transfer your 212 to Halifax?

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] said:

Hi,

why not just transfer your 212 to Halifax?

Agree
https://www.halifax.co.uk/isas/transfer-isa.html

bowlhead99

Yes, as above. Put a few pounds back into the 212 ISA account (so that there's something to transfer) and then use Halifax's transfer process to move it to Halifax, then add the rest of your new money to Halifax.

grumiofoundation

There is no rule about opening more than one stocks and shares ISA in a given tax year. 

Rule is you can only contribute to one. 

Given you have contributed to trading 212 ISA you cannot also open and  contribute to Halifax ISA alongside this.

However you should be able to transfer your ISA with trading 212 to Halifax  (think transfer may need to be in cash so in this case if you did have any investments would need to be sold but sounds like doesn’t apply). Since you would transfer all current years subscriptions Halifax ISA then becomes this years ISA. 

unfortunately because you withdrew the £1500 (and trading 212 does not offer a flexible ISA) this is ‘gone’ but if you aren’t going to hit 20k limit then doesn’t really matter. 

Underkat

bowlhead99 said:

Yes, as above. Put a few pounds back into the 212 ISA account (so that there's something to transfer) and then use Halifax's transfer process to move it to Halifax, then add the rest of your new money to Halifax.

So for example; add £5 to Trading 212 Stocks ISA, setup and transfer ISA from Trading 212 to Halifax Stocks ISA.
Can I start using the remaining allowance (£20k - £1,500 = £18.5k) with Halifax straight away or do I have to wait for the ISA to transfer first?

Thank you

bowlhead99

Underkat said:

bowlhead99 said:

Yes, as above. Put a few pounds back into the 212 ISA account (so that there's something to transfer) and then use Halifax's transfer process to move it to Halifax, then add the rest of your new money to Halifax.

So for example; add £5 to Trading 212 Stocks ISA, setup and transfer ISA from Trading 212 to Halifax Stocks ISA.

yes

Can I start using the remaining allowance (£20k - £1,500 = £18.5k) with Halifax straight away or do I have to wait for the ISA to transfer first?

 It is simpler to wait until you have completed the transfer from T212, to avoid breaking the rule about contributing to two different ISAs in the year without first transferring from the old one to the new one.

Underkat

bowlhead99 said:

Underkat said:

bowlhead99 said:

Yes, as above. Put a few pounds back into the 212 ISA account (so that there's something to transfer) and then use Halifax's transfer process to move it to Halifax, then add the rest of your new money to Halifax.

So for example; add £5 to Trading 212 Stocks ISA, setup and transfer ISA from Trading 212 to Halifax Stocks ISA.

yes

Can I start using the remaining allowance (£20k - £1,500 = £18.5k) with Halifax straight away or do I have to wait for the ISA to transfer first?

 It is simpler to wait until you have completed the transfer from T212, to avoid breaking the rule about contributing to two different ISAs in the year without first transferring from the old one to the new one.

Great thanks for info. I've just been going through the transfer form and come across this:

No additional money should be transferred into your Halifax Stocks and Shares ISA until the transfer of your existing ISA has been completed

So you were spot on.

Cheers all!

soulsaver

Underkat said:

bowlhead99 said:

Yes, as above. Put a few pounds back into the 212 ISA account (so that there's something to transfer) and then use Halifax's transfer process to move it to Halifax, then add the rest of your new money to Halifax.

So for example; add £5 to Trading 212 Stocks ISA, setup and transfer ISA from Trading 212 to Halifax Stocks ISA.
Can I start using the remaining allowance (£20k - £1,500 = £18.5k) with Halifax straight away or do I have to wait for the ISA to transfer first?

Thank you

Bowlhead is right (as usual), and the answer is likely to be 'No' but you could ask Halifax if they have a work around.