TWO ISA's in one year by mistake

blackgoldrealmoney

I spoke to HMRC helpline yesterday. The lady on call spoke to technical advisor and then get back to me. She was saying that advisor saying to close one ISA account. Since, we don’t have any information we can’t say further. Once we get info from broker then we may helpful. Also, she says that she will put note that I’ve contacted the HMRC immediately after the error. So everything will be fine.

ive closed by both ISA, and will start fresh ISA next tax years 

in_my_wellies

My daughter did exactly this about 3 years ago, about £7000 in total. She received a letter from HMRC explaining she couldn't have two and was advised to close the second one which she did. She put the money in a new one for the new tax year. 
(They were both with the same BS but had different names. From memory one was called 'ISA' and the other 'ISA Saver' and she thought she was saving towards the ISA and would  put the money across at the end of the year) 

dunstonh

blackgoldrealmoney said:

I spoke to HMRC helpline yesterday. The lady on call spoke to technical advisor and then get back to me. She was saying that advisor saying to close one ISA account. Since, we don’t have any information we can’t say further. Once we get info from broker then we may helpful. Also, she says that she will put note that I’ve contacted the HMRC immediately after the error. So everything will be fine.

ive closed by both ISA, and will start fresh ISA next tax years 

You should have just left it.   It would have been fine without you doing all that.   As it did not exceed the ISA limits, the most common HMRC outcome is to tell you that you made a mistake but not to do it again.      The other, is to void the second ISA (and convert to unwrapped if S&S ISA).

If you did not cancel the two ISAs under the cancellation rights period then you will still show on their records as having made two ISA contributions in the tax year.

blackgoldrealmoney

dunstonh said:

blackgoldrealmoney said:

I spoke to HMRC helpline yesterday. The lady on call spoke to technical advisor and then get back to me. She was saying that advisor saying to close one ISA account. Since, we don’t have any information we can’t say further. Once we get info from broker then we may helpful. Also, she says that she will put note that I’ve contacted the HMRC immediately after the error. So everything will be fine.

ive closed by both ISA, and will start fresh ISA next tax years 

You should have just left it.   It would have been fine without you doing all that.   As it did not exceed the ISA limits, the most common HMRC outcome is to tell you that you made a mistake but not to do it again.      The other, is to void the second ISA (and convert to unwrapped if S&S ISA).

If you did not cancel the two ISAs under the cancellation rights period then you will still show on their records as having made two ISA contributions in the tax year.

What's the cancellation right period? I have opened both accounts last week. I have no idea about the cooling-off period.

I want to cancel both accounts to avoid any confusion (I was panicked) and aim to start fresh ISA next year (which is just one month away). 

eskbanker

blackgoldrealmoney said:

dunstonh said:
If you did not cancel the two ISAs under the cancellation rights period then you will still show on their records as having made two ISA contributions in the tax year.

What's the cancellation right period? I have opened both accounts last week. I have no idea about the cooling-off period.

I want to cancel both accounts to avoid any confusion (I was panicked) and aim to start fresh ISA next year (which is just one month away). 

There will typically be a 14-day cooling-off period during which you can cancel, so if you exercise your cancellation rights during that window then the account openings are effectively reversed as if they'd never happened, so if you do this for both within that window then you'd still have free rein regarding your ISA choice for this year, as well as next year.  The Ts & Cs for each should confirm the 14 days....

Murmansk

blackgoldrealmoney said:

What is 'get out jail free card' ... What does it mean ?

It refers to the board game Monopoly 

Dilbert_Investor

Dunstonh - having potentially done something similar myself do you know what might influence HMRC to choose to either give a warning or void the second ISA?

I also assume the second ISA is determined on subscription timing rather than account opening?

blackgoldrealmoney

One final question, is it possible to open two ISA in a tax year and put money only in one ISA account? Will that be ok ?

eskbanker

blackgoldrealmoney said:

One final question, is it possible to open two ISA in a tax year and put money only in one ISA account? Will that be ok ?

Yes, as discussed at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6243022/can-i-open-a-second-isa-in-the-same-tax-year-but-not-contribute-to-it/p1

dunstonh

Dilbert_Investor said:

Dunstonh - having potentially done something similar myself do you know what might influence HMRC to choose to either give a warning or void the second ISA?

I also assume the second ISA is determined on subscription timing rather than account opening?

It has been a long time since I have seen a void.     All the ones I have come across over more recent years have just had the warning to not do it again.  However, from memory, each of those did not exceed the total ISA allowance or did not exceed it by much.