Selling proceeds of a Bed and ISA

Windy02

Hi All, 
Sorry if this is a daft question but I'm a bit of a novice.... I have a considerable sum - 80k - tied up in a bed and ISA. This consists of company shares from a SIP that I have accrued over 30+ years. I am thinking of retiring this year and would potentially like to access all of this money. Would I be liable for either CGT or any other tax if I were to withdraw the total sum?
Thank you.

af1963

There's not really such a thing called a "bed and ISA" - that's a name that was sometimes used for a method of getting shares into an ISA by selling shares that you already owned and then re-purchasing them within the ISA.   And a "SIP" might be a SIPP - a self invested personal pension ? But it can't be both an ISA and a SIPP ...and the rules are different depending which it is.

If the shares are in an ISA, you can sell them and access all the money tax free.

If they are in a SIPP, you can sell them and take the money if you are over 55, but some of the proceeds are liable for income tax. However much you take out can be 25% tax free and 75% liable to tax. If you wanted to do this you'd usually be better to split it into two  or more withdrawals in different tax years, especially if you don't need all the cash up front.  If you took it all at once, you'd pay 40% tax on some of it.  

 If you have no other earnings you could take out almost £17000 each year without paying any tax - combining the 25% tax free sum with your normal £12570 tax allowance. 

(Or another way if you need more up front is to take all the tax free cash at the start, 25% of £80K = £20K , and then take a fully taxable amount from it each year - the first £12570 will be covered by your tax allowance and then you pay 20% tax on the rest, up to about £50K - then 40% on anything above that.)

No CGT in either case.

Windy02

Thank you for your advice af1963.
The SIP in question was a company Share Incentive Plan. This is where the shares came from to sell and then repurchase in the Bed and ISA.
I think I can deduce from your very detailed response that I can sell the contents of the Bed and ISA with no tax implications so thank you very much for your reply.