Help to buy ISA transfer

Mike970

If you have a HTB ISA which already has the maximum £12k eligible for the 25% bonus and you transfer it to a Lifetime ISA, do you lose the £3k from the 25% bonus that the account would have accrued? eg, if you transfer to a LISA, would you effectively be starting afresh?

masonic

Mike970 said:

If you have a HTB ISA which already has the maximum £12k eligible for the 25% bonus and you transfer it to a Lifetime ISA, do you lose the £3k from the 25% bonus that the account would have accrued? eg, if you transfer to a LISA, would you effectively be starting afresh?

You can only add a maximum of £4k per tax year to a LISA (each £4k added will receive £1k bonus), including any transfers from other types of ISA. You can only claim the HTB ISA bonus on the closing balance of the HTB ISA and you cannot use it if you are using the LISA.

Alexland

Also worth noting the following was announced in the budget:

"Lifetime ISA Reform – The government will publish a consultation in early 2026 on the implementation of a new, simpler ISA product to support first time buyers to buy a home. Once available, this new product will be offered in place of the Lifetime ISA."

They failed to mention if there would be a migration path for existing LISA savers which is incredibly unhelpful for those looking to start or already saving towards qualifying property purchase using a LISA where the purchase date is likely still some way away.

It's hard enough for most people to save a deposit without the government making the landscape uncertain.

eskbanker

Alexland said:

Also worth noting the following was announced in the budget:

"Lifetime ISA Reform – The government will publish a consultation in early 2026 on the implementation of a new, simpler ISA product to support first time buyers to buy a home. Once available, this new product will be offered in place of the Lifetime ISA."

They failed to mention if there would be a migration path for existing LISA savers which is incredibly unhelpful for those looking to start or already saving towards qualifying property purchase using a LISA where the purchase date is likely still some way away.

It's hard enough for most people to save a deposit without the government making the landscape uncertain.

As you say, no commitment to a migration path, but there was one last time round, affording HTB ISA holders a window within which to transfer into LISA in an advantageous way - that's not necessarily to say that this is a binding precedent but these are long term schemes and they'll be well aware of how unpopular it would be to leave people stranded.

Seems to me that there's an element of being damned if they do and damned if they don't, when announcing direction of travel without having finessed the detail with stakeholders, which should be a consultative process.