Full ISA Guide Discussion Area

ESMnew500

Doc_N said:

ESMnew500 said:

I'd be really grateful if somone could answer one very simple question

I have read tonnes of guides on cash ISAs but they all talk about how you can 'save' up to £20k a year - none of them explain in clear language if you can add to that or if you can only save £20k in total in a cash ISA

so my question is: can I only ever have up to £20k in a cash ISA or, if i put £20k in one year and add £20k the next year, do I then have £40k of tax-free savings?

You can’t add to an ISA with £20k in it. But you can open another one in the following tax year. That will give you the £40k you mention. Provided of course that the cash ISA still exists, and that the limit hasn’t - as is being suggested - been reduced.

ok, thanks, it's amazing how that isn't made clear in all the guides I have read - so basiaclly if i have one cash ISA with £20k in it i have to open a new one to get tax free savings but maybe can only put £4k a year into it if there are changes

yes if there is a reduction that will be intensely annoying, I think cash ISAs are a good option for the average risk averse person, I don't think that change will play well and I don't see the point of it, as far as i can see the argument is people will invest more in British businesses via stocks and shares ISAs, which seems a bit flimsy to me

Middle_of_the_Road

Doc_N said:

ESMnew500 said:

I'd be really grateful if somone could answer one very simple question

I have read tonnes of guides on cash ISAs but they all talk about how you can 'save' up to £20k a year - none of them explain in clear language if you can add to that or if you can only save £20k in total in a cash ISA

so my question is: can I only ever have up to £20k in a cash ISA or, if i put £20k in one year and add £20k the next year, do I then have £40k of tax-free savings?

You can’t add to an ISA with £20k in it. But you can open another one in the following tax year. That will give you the £40k you mention. Provided of course that the cash ISA still exists, and that the limit hasn’t - as is being suggested - been reduced.

That's not correct. You can add to a previous tax year ISA. The only limitation is the £20k yearly restriction.Some people have in excess of £1m in an ISA.

ESMnew500

Middle_of_the_Road said:

Doc_N said:

ESMnew500 said:

I'd be really grateful if somone could answer one very simple question

I have read tonnes of guides on cash ISAs but they all talk about how you can 'save' up to £20k a year - none of them explain in clear language if you can add to that or if you can only save £20k in total in a cash ISA

so my question is: can I only ever have up to £20k in a cash ISA or, if i put £20k in one year and add £20k the next year, do I then have £40k of tax-free savings?

You can’t add to an ISA with £20k in it. But you can open another one in the following tax year. That will give you the £40k you mention. Provided of course that the cash ISA still exists, and that the limit hasn’t - as is being suggested - been reduced.

That's not correct. You can add to a previous tax year ISA. The only limitation is the £20k yearly restriction.Some people have in excess of £1m in an ISA.

yes, thanks, someone told me the same yesterday evening - after I'd opened a new ISA - that said the new ISA has a better rate so I think I'll still use it and just leave my current £20k in the other one 

I'm still amazed there isn't more clear advice on this online though