Moving cash out of a flexible S&S ISA

masonic

intalex said:

A related question, are shares issued in a share save scheme exempt from CGT for any gains realised at the point they are moved to a S&S ISA?

If the scheme qualifies for transfer into a S&S ISA and this is done within the 90 day window, then there is no disposal.

https://www.gov.uk/tax-employee-share-schemes/transferring-your-shares-to-an-isa

If the scheme does not qualify, then the only way to get them into an ISA is Bed & ISA, which involves a taxable disposal.

leosayer

eskbanker said:

leosayer said:

eskbanker said:

leosayer said:

babyboysavings said:

I have recently had a share save scheme mature. I moved £20k of the shares to a flexible S & S ISA and then sold them to allow me to move more across, on the understanding this would protect me from paying captal gains tax. In terms of the cash i have withdrawn, am i allowed to put £20k into my existing cash ISA to keep it protected from the tax man?

You can't transfer any more shares to the S&S ISA in this tax year.

Why not?

As discussed in this thread, nobody could identify a definitive reason why this wouldn't be permitted, within 90 days of maturity:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6526980/clarification-needed-on-90-day-saye-shares-to-isa-transfer

Because the OP said they had used their £20k ISA allowance for this tax year.

But it went into a flexible ISA, so can be withdrawn in order to reset the allowance and permit another contribution of up to £20K before the end of the tax year.

The OP asked if they could withdraw the £20k from their flexible S&S ISA and then put it into their cash ISA. If they do that then they can't contribute another £20k in this tax year.

eskbanker

leosayer said:

eskbanker said:

leosayer said:

eskbanker said:

leosayer said:

babyboysavings said:

I have recently had a share save scheme mature. I moved £20k of the shares to a flexible S & S ISA and then sold them to allow me to move more across, on the understanding this would protect me from paying captal gains tax. In terms of the cash i have withdrawn, am i allowed to put £20k into my existing cash ISA to keep it protected from the tax man?

You can't transfer any more shares to the S&S ISA in this tax year.

Why not?

As discussed in this thread, nobody could identify a definitive reason why this wouldn't be permitted, within 90 days of maturity:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6526980/clarification-needed-on-90-day-saye-shares-to-isa-transfer

Because the OP said they had used their £20k ISA allowance for this tax year.

But it went into a flexible ISA, so can be withdrawn in order to reset the allowance and permit another contribution of up to £20K before the end of the tax year.

The OP asked if they could withdraw the £20k from their flexible S&S ISA and then put it into their cash ISA. If they do that then they can't contribute another £20k in this tax year.

They couldn't do those steps in that order, but not sure that's what they were actually suggesting - anyway, if their intention is to extract >£20K worth of shares from the sharesave into a flexible S&S ISA, for sale/withdrawal, then they can do that in however many transactions are needed, and pay into a cash ISA after completing those withdrawals, as long as net current year contributions don't exceed £20K at any given time.

babyboysavings

So, just to be clear, are you saying i would need to reduce my flexible ISA, to zero if i wanted to put £20k into a Cash ISA this tax year? Thanks

eskbanker

babyboysavings said:

So, just to be clear, are you saying i would need to reduce my flexible ISA, to zero if i wanted to put £20k into a Cash ISA this tax year? Thanks

It may or may not be the same thing, depending on prior account funding, but you'd need to withdraw all current year money from your flexible ISA if you wanted to use a full 2025/26 contribution allowance elsewhere, assuming no other ISAs are being funded other than these two.  As above, the key measure is net contributions, i.e. deposits minus flexible withdrawals.

masonic

babyboysavings said:

So, just to be clear, are you saying i would need to reduce my flexible ISA, to zero if i wanted to put £20k into a Cash ISA this tax year? Thanks

That's not necessarily true. But as you moved £20k of shares in, you would need to withdraw £20k to then pay £20k into your cash ISA. Your account may contain more than £20k if your shares were worth more at the point of sale.

If the shares instead lost value, then it may not be possible to make enough flexible withdrawals to put £20k into a cash ISA this tax year.

So it depends on the value added to and removed from the ISA on each iteration.