Managing ISAs from several Tax years

efunc

I'm sorry in advance since this is a rudimentary question that seems to have been asked already, but I still need clarification. I have 2 existing ISAs from past years and am planing to open another for this year. Am I right in thinking I can deposit my £3,600 allowance among these 3 ISAs in 08/09 in any way I see fit? Or am I only able to pay into one of them?

I have £3000 in an HSBC ISA from 06/07 earning relatively poor interest. I'm not planing to add anything to this but am considering transferring the funds to ICE save's ISA for 08/09

In the meantime I have opened a Barclays Tax Haven (application still being processed) with £3000 for 07/08. (I was very lucky with this and just caught the deadline for last year!)

That leaves 08/09 which I'm unclear about. Would my £3,600 be able to go into my Barclays Tax Haven ISA to be added to the existing funds from 07/08? Howabout if I opened the ICEsave one now? Could I then transfer my HSBC ISA into it, add some more funds to it (if necessary) and add the rest of my allocation to my Barclays Tax Haven? Is any of this important providing I don't exceed my £3600??

thank you!

Hungerdunger

You can only pay this year's ISA into one account. It can be one of your existing ones or a new one. You can't pay a part of your £3,600 into each.

As far as transferring is concerned, subject to the T&Cs of the old and new providers, you can transfer an old ISA to your new one; transfer one of the old ISAs to the other old one, or once you've set up this year's ISA, you could transfer all three of them into yet another ISA. In other words, you can do more-or-less what you want.

Hope that clarifies things a little.

emma396

my understanding is that you can only pay new money into ONE isa per tax year.
so u cannot pay 1k into hsbc and then 2600 into barclays for 08/09.
you can move your existing hsbc isa to icesave, but u need to decide where you want the 08/09 money to go, either barclays to join the 07/08 money or into icesave. hope this helps

efunc

Thank you both, that helps a lot. In that case it makes sense to pay the entire £3600 this year into the Barclays Tax Haven since that has the best rate. From what you seem to be saying I can still open an Icesave ISA this year as well and transfer my old HSBC funds into it, providing it's a transfer only and not 'new money'. I just hope ICESAVE allow that. I presumed they would only accept a transfer in if I was paying in new funds too. If that's the case my 08/09 money would have to go to ICESAVE and not Barclays. I'd better go and check their T&Cs...

Baldur

efunc wrote: »

I just hope ICESAVE allow that. I presumed they would only accept a transfer in if I was paying in new funds too. If that's the case my 08/09 money would have to go to ICESAVE and not Barclays. I'd better go and check their T&Cs...

I transferred partial past years' ISA funds of £25k to Icesave in February, so yes, they do accept transfers only - no new money required.

efunc

Great news, thanks. Although I'm now looking at Alliance & Leicester direct isa which also seems to fit the bill. I'll apply to whichever is easiest today.