Overview

See ISAs (subscriber guide) for full details.

What is the annual ISA allowance?

Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) Limits

Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) are tax-free savings accounts for qualifying individuals.  

• Types of accounts include:
  • Cash.
  • Stocks & shares.
  • Innovative finance.
  • Lifetime.
  • Junior.
• All interest and dividends received and capital gains made are tax-free.
• ISAs form part of the taxable estate on death.
• From April 2016, the Innovative Finance ISA was introduced.
• From April 2017, the Lifetime ISA was introduced.
• The Help to Buy ISA was available from 2015 to 2019.

ISA Investment Limits

• From 2017-18 onwards, the maximum amount that can be invested into an ISA is £20,000 (£15,240 for 2015-16 and 2016-17), with the exception of:
  • Junior ISAs: £9,000
  • Lifetime ISAs: £4,000
• The allowance can be spread across all ISAs subject to the £4,000 maximum for Lifetime ISAs.
• From 2015-16, this overall allowance can be invested into any combination of cash or stocks & shares.
• In earlier years there was a limit to how much of the overall allowance could be invested in cash.
• Funds withdrawn from an ISA can only be reinvested within the normal investment limits, unless the ISA is 'flexible'.

See ISAs (subscriber guide) for full details.

Junior ISAs

• A Junior ISA is a long term savings fund and interest in the ISA rolls up tax-free.
• Junior ISA is available to UK resident children under the age of 18 who do not already have a Child Trust Fund.
• It can be split into cash and shares.
• Where parents give children income-producing assets, such as cash or shares, any income earned on those assets (such as interest or dividends) in excess of £100 per year is taxable as the parent's, under the Income Tax Settlement provisions.
• The settlement provisions do not apply to gifts made by grandparents or other relatives. There is case law that should be considered when grandparents are being used as an avoidance mechanism by parents wishing to attempt to circumvent the rules.
• The income generated from parental subscriptions to a Junior ISA does not count toward the parent’s income under the settlements legislation