ISA transfer

slider09

Hi

I currently have an easy access ISA with Marcus paying 3.75% interest, which contains mainly last years contributions. 

Can I transfer this (or part of) to a fixed rate ISA (to benefit from higher interest rates) and keep the Marcus ISA open and continue to pay into?

I know you can’t contribute to more than one of the same ISA a tax year but does transferring count as contributing?

Thanks. 

refluxer

Transferring funds from previous tax years does not count towards your current tax year allowance but, if your Marcus ISA contains contributions from the current tax year, ISA rules state that you can only make new contributions into one cash ISA at a time in any one tax year which means that any contributions from the current tax year have to stay together.

So - if you intend on keeping the Marcus easy access account open (and make further contributions into it) then you'll need to ensure that you leave a balance that is the same as (or greater than) the total amount you've contributed since 6th April 2023 and to keep within the ISA rules, you would not be allowed to make new contributions into the new fixed rate account.

This is all presuming that Marcus allow partial transfers out, of course. I suspect most easy access cash ISAs would allow this but, as Marcus don't allow transfer in to their ISAs, they might be more restrictive so you'll need to check the account T&Cs.  

Zuzi

I happen to have Marcus Cash ISA T&Cs open and they say:

Yes, you can transfer your Cash ISA but it must be transferred in full. We are unable to support partial transfers.

Sounds like the OP would need to transfer both previous years' and this year's contributions. I am in the process of moving my money with them to another provider too, but my case is simpler since I only have this year's contributions with them (still a bit of a pain, need to fill in a paper request form since they were not on the list of providers to do it online)

refluxer

@slider09 - as Marcus don't allow partial transfers out, then you would need to transfer the whole amount to an easy access ISA from a provider who does allow this before you start splitting it.

jnorth55

Have read this thread & several others on this forum around transferring & one aspect seems not to get a reply;

it's clear that transfers don't count towards the annual allowance for deposits but not so clear as to whether transferring counts towards the 'fund one ISA per year' aspect. For example;

transfer an ISA into a new provider = funding one ISA
then also depositing the yearly allowance into another ISA with a different provider = funding another ISA
or does it? 

The gov uk website isn't clear on this either. 

Does anyone actually know for sure?

Thanks.

Catplan

jnorth55 said:

Have read this thread & several others on this forum around transferring & one aspect seems not to get a reply;

it's clear that transfers don't count towards the annual allowance for deposits but not so clear as to whether transferring counts towards the 'fund one ISA per year' aspect. For example;

transfer an ISA into a new provider = funding one ISA
then also depositing the yearly allowance into another ISA with a different provider = funding another ISA
or does it? 

The gov uk website isn't clear on this either. 

Does anyone actually know for sure?

Thanks.

in this case funding is putting money not previously in an ISA into one to gain the tax free status. 

Previous years ISA contributions have already been placed into an ISA so not considering as funding, as you already have the funds in place, you are just moving providers.