Moving £20K of savings into my wife’s name

pking1601

I’m sure this has been covered many times from different scenarios but simply, can I move £20k from my savings into an ISA in my wife’s name to lessen my tax burden without any tax implications.

I realise that the money will effectively be hers if I do it.
Happily married for 30 years and she shows no signs of leaving me just yet, but who knows!

TadleyBaggie

Short answer, yes.

Nuggy96

yeah comes under "spousal gifting" no tax issues

FrugaiMacDugal

No, you cannot directly transfer money to your wife's ISA, seems you can gift your wife the money to her bank account, then she can pay it into her ISA.

where_are_we

Providing you are 100% comfortable with sharing your assets with your wife (this also works if you are part of an unmarried couple), what you describe makes good sense in reducing your tax bill.

There may also be advantages if your OH has a low income and you have a large amount of savings. If one partner has an earned income eg wages and pension, of less than £17570 then they will be eligible for the starting rate for savings of 0% for up to £5000 of interest. In the present climate of high interest rates combined with a large amount of savings it is easy to exceed the £1000 personal savings allowance for basic rate tax payers. This is where using the starting rate for savings is very advantageous - maximum gain of 20% of £5000 = £1000 less tax to pay on your cash savings interest. It helps to have a joint current account to transfer wealth.

Going back to the original post, myself and OH have always pooled our wealth - we have a joint current account - so no yours and mine scenario - I realise this is unusual. She has a low income and benefits from a large part of the starting savings rate and subsquently a large part of our non ISA cash savings are in her name. The ISA part of our wealth is split evenly.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81861822#Comment_81861822

Paying directly into someone else's ISA isn't prohibited under the ISA scheme rules, but individual products may have stipulations about funding from a single nominated account, for example.

pking1601

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81861822#Comment_81861822

that’s what I mean

Transfer her money for her to then open the ISA in her name,

Heedtheadvice

She will have to open her ISA herself, I believe, to comply with requirements.

Transferring money in depends upon how the holding platform allows account management. s

As an example: With my wife's explicit agreement I can fund her S&S ISA and instruct dealing etc. on her behalf.