2 x ISA's

JMacky

My daughter was asking about ISAs recently and I thought I advised her correctly.  She opened one with Virgin and made a deposit for 2023/24 tax year but it was fixed and the Virgin terms only allowed her to add more funds within 30 days which she didnt.  Due to this she did open another with the Post Office and made a deposit with them.  The total of the 2 has not exceeded the 20,000 grand annual limit but is she allowed and Easy Access Isa and and a Fixed Term Isa in the same year - I may have advised her incorrectly? I'm confused myself  now tbh - they were both opened on line at intervals of about 2 months.

refluxer

By paying new subscriptions into two cash ISAs which are running simultaneously during the same tax year, she's broken current ISA rules, unfortunately.

While it doesn't help her current situation, it's worth noting for the future that this rule changes from 6th April this year onwards. After this date, doing what she did will be allowed as that restriction is being removed.

JMacky

How can I help her rectify this close one of the accounts

eskbanker

JMacky said:

How can I help her rectify this close one of the accounts

Unlikely to be necessary, given that HMRC will typically forgive first 'offenders' anyway - how much did she pay into the Post Office account?

Rich2808

This has also happened to me - but not due to my error but an error by my providers.

I requested a prior year transfer - I kept the paperwork so I can verify that - but the new provider requested it as a current year transfer and my current provider processed it as such. I had no idea this had occurred - so invested more funds with the original provider. So - while they pass the buck between them - I am currently technically invested in two cash isas in respect of my 2023-24 allowance.

It has been a nightmare to try and correct their error(s) - going backwards and forwards between them - which is still ongoing!

I have proof of what happened (and a letter confirming this from one provider) - and its not my fault and I haven't exceeded the £20k isa limit. But as above I expect HMRC have more important things to worry about to bother pursuing this - especially given the rule changes for the new tax year.

The rules (thankfully) will change from Saturday so you can invest in as many cash isas as you like each year as long as the total sum invested across all of them (plus any stocks and shares/lifetime isas) doesn't exceed £20k. So much easier - for savers and providers as the current system is a mess!

So to the OP - I wouldn't bother trying to rectify this now. As long as she hasn't breached the £20k limit - HMRC almost certainly won't bother to pursue this!