ISA AND TAX YEARS

BIELSA

Good morning

Newbie here so please bear with me

Can you advise on two year fixed ISA's which have been opened by my wife and I

As you can see below in 23/24 we took out an ISA and followed this up with two more in 24/25

We will be opening two more for tax year 25/26 but what happens when the original four mature next March and April?

I know we can open two more ISA's for 26/27 but do we have to put the other £40k into a savings account as we will have used our allowance for that year

Would appreciate any advice you can give

TAX YEAR	OPENED	MATURES	A	B
23/24	Mar-24	Mar-26	£20,000	£20,000
24/25	Apr-24	Apr-26	£20,000	£20,000
25/26	Apr-25	Apr-27	£20,000	£20,000
26/27	Apr-26	Apr-28

Thanks Bielsa

InvesterJones

There's a dedicated ISA sub-forum on MSE which has lots of help, but briefly the maturing ISAs should remain in an ISA wrapper - you can then transfer these into a new ISA and they don't count towards your allowance because they're not new contributions. Make sure to transfer rather than withdraw into savings.

BIELSA

Thank you - Do I have to transfer them to a new ISA with the same Lender or can I transfer them to another provider?

InvesterJones

BIELSA said:

Thank you - Do I have to transfer them to a new ISA with the same Lender or can I transfer them to another provider?

It can be another provider

BIELSA

Thank you - One last question. Can I open a two year fixed ISA today but only put money into it on April 6th.

xylophone

but do we have to put the other £40k into a savings account as we will have used our allowance for that year

NO!

You could choose to leave the matured funds within an ISA offered by the existing provider or you could contact another 

ISA provider and ask that provider to arrange a transfer of those funds to its ISA product. 

Do not just withdraw the funds to a standard savings account if you wish to retain the ISA status (tax free interest  and (sad 

thought) Spouse Inherited ISA Allowance).

refluxer

BIELSA said:

Thank you - One last question. Can I open a two year fixed ISA today but only put money into it on April 6th.

Yes, you can open an ISA account today and pay into it on 6th April if you want the deposit to count towards your 2025-26 tax year ISA allowance.

Just keep an eye on the funding window if you think there's a chance you might end up paying in later than that date, as this can vary from provider to provider (typically between 14-30 days in my experience, although there are a few that allow payments in throughout the duration of the fixed rate period) 

Just be aware that a number of cash ISA providers who often offer the best rates have already withdrawn their ISA accounts in the busy run up to the end of the tax year, so these will only re-appear from next week.  

eskbanker

refluxer said:

BIELSA said:

Thank you - One last question. Can I open a two year fixed ISA today but only put money into it on April 6th.

Yes, you can open an ISA account today and pay into it on 6th April if you want the deposit to count towards your 2025-26 tax year ISA allowance.

Just keep an eye on the funding window if you think there's a chance you might end up paying in later than that date, as this can vary from provider to provider (typically between 14-30 days in my experience, although there are a few that allow payments in throughout the duration of the fixed rate period) 

Just be aware that a number of cash ISA providers who often offer the best rates have already withdrawn their ISA accounts in the busy run up to the end of the tax year, so these will only re-appear from next week.  

One other factor to consider is that there's at least one provider which closes unfunded accounts at the end of the tax year, which would thwart any plan to leave funding until the next one - I can't recall which one I'm thinking of but will look for the recent thread about it....

Edit: it was Principality, with Kent Reliance also reported to do the same:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81369548/#Comment_81369548