Joint Savings Account £2000 Interest tax free? 22 January at 4:56PM in Savings & investments 5 replies 214 views

sandy700

If I open a joint savings account with my wife will we get £2000 interest tax free as my solo account is reaching the threshold where I will soon be getting over £1000 in interest a year? 

Eco_Miser

Depends on your TOTAL interest.

If neither you nor your wife have an interest paying current account, nor any other savings account, then each of you will get half of the interest from the account, and not pay tax on it, if that is less than your individual PSAs (probably £1000, but may be £500 or zero depending on your tax rates).

Depending on your total incomes either of you may not even be able to use your PSA, if there is unused Personal Allowance or Starting Rate for Savings.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

sandy700 said:

If I open a joint savings account with my wife will we get £2000 interest tax free as my solo account is reaching the threshold where I will soon be getting over £1000 in interest a year? 

You will each get £1,000 taxed at 0% but your existing account goes towards that.

I'm assuming you aren't higher rate taxpayers and don't have any spare Personal Allowance or savings starter rate 

sandy700

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

I'm assuming you aren't higher rate taxpayers and don't have any spare Personal Allowance or savings starter rate 

Couple of OAP's surviving on our pensions though I did have to claim the married persons tax allowance.

TiVo_Lad

You can't "transfer" your interest earned to date as a sole account holder to your wife to cut your tax bill. If you add her to your account (assuming the Ts & Cs permit), any interest accrued from that point onwards can be split between you, but the interest earned to date as a sole account will belong only to you and will go towards your in-year income.

Albermarle

sandy700 said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

I'm assuming you aren't higher rate taxpayers and don't have any spare Personal Allowance or savings starter rate 

Couple of OAP's surviving on our pensions though I did have to claim the married persons tax allowance.

If your taxable income ( includes pensions) is less than £17570, you can earn more than £1000 in interest without paying tax.
Tax-free savings: check if you're eligible - Money Saving Expert