ISAS
- What is an ISA?
- ISA allowance and dates for 2024/25
- ISA calculator
- Tax benefits of ISAs
- Transferring an ISA
- ISAs at Nutmeg
- Withdrawing from an ISA
- More ISA questions
- What happens to my ISA when I die
- ISA Rules
- General FAQs
The annual allowance for Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) began on 6 April 2024 and ends on 5 April 2025. As tax-wrappers, ISAs follow the same cycle as the tax year.
What is the ISA deadline for the current tax year?
The deadline for using your ISA allowance is 5 April 2025. This is the end of the tax year, and after this date,you will no longer be able to use your allowance for 2024/25.
What is the ISA allowance for the current tax year?
The ISA allowance limit for this tax year is £20,000.
This is the most that you can save or invest into an ISA in a given tax year without having to pay tax on the interest, dividends, or capital gains earned on your ISA investments. The ISA allowance is set by the government and subject to change from one year to the next.
What happens if I don’t use my ISA allowance before this date?
ISA allowances are reset every tax year. This means you can’t carry forward any unused allowance into the next tax year, so you have to ‘use it or lose it’. A new allowance becomes available at the start of the next tax year.
The current annual ISA allowance is £20,000. While there are several different kinds of ISA and there are limits on the amount you can pay into certain types of ISA.
Type of ISA | Maximum annual contribution 2024/25 | Part of the 2024/25 annual allowance? |
|---|---|---|
Cash ISA | £20,000 | Yes |
Stock and shares ISA | £20,000 | Yes |
Lifetime ISA | £4,000 | Yes |
Junior ISA | £9,000 | No |
*Here at Nutmeg, we don’t offer cash ISAs. But if you have a cash ISA elsewhere with another provider, any contributions you make over the course of the year will still contribute to your overall allowance.
Can I rollover my unused allowance after the ISA deadline of 5 April?
No – it’s not possible to rollover unused allowance. For example, if you only put £10,000 into a stocks and shares ISA this year, you cannot put £30,000 in next year.
Will I automatically get a new ISA allowance next tax year?
Yes. However, you should be aware that the government can, and does, change the ISA allowances from time to time. You can check their website to stay up to date with any changes.
How do I make the most of the ISA allowance before the deadline of 5 April?
The best way to make the most of your allowance is to use as much of it as you can because the money in your ISA, as well as any returns and income it makes, is free from capital gains and income tax. Therefore, an ISA can be a good way to invest.
It is also worth noting that you may benefit from contributing to your ISA early in the tax year. For example: if you invest £20,000 in astocks and shares ISAearly in the tax year, then any returns may have a better chance ofcompoundingbecause they are invested for longer.
What happens if I reach the ISA limit before the deadline?
Once you have used up your £20,000 allowance for this tax year, any remaining investment must go elsewhere. You won’t be able to invest any more in an ISA before you get a new allowance at the start of the next tax year on April 6th.
Where should I invest if I’ve maxed out my ISA allowance?
If you’ve maxed out your ISA allowance, you have several options.
- You could top up your pension to help fund your retirement. Putting money into a pension has many benefits and is a very tax-efficient way of investing your money. The annual allowance for pension contributions is £60,000.
- If you have children, you could consider opening and contributing to a Junior ISA (JISA). JISA contributions do not form part of your annual allowance, and you can invest up to £9,000 in the current tax year. JISAs must be opened by the child's parent or legal guardian, but anyone can pay into them, meaning they're a great gift option for grandparents, aunties, uncles, and family friends (that they'll no doubt appreciate in the years to come).
- You can open a General Investment Account (GIA), which allows you to invest more money on top of your ISA allowance. It’s important to note that you may need to pay tax on any returns you make.
If you’d like some help understanding how best to maximise your allowances, you can book a free call with one of our experts, who’d be happy to help.
Can I put money into more than one ISA per tax year?
There are no limits to the number of ISAs you can have. You can open or contribute to the following types of ISA per tax year, as long as you don't exceed the £20,000 annual allowance:
- Stocks and shares ISAs
- Cash ISAs
- Innovative Finance ISAs
- Lifetime ISAs(£4,000 annual limit, only one per tax year)
You can transfer an ISA at any point throughout the year, and, if you use your provider’s transfer service rather than withdrawing and reinvesting the money yourself, you’ll preserve your tax benefits and annual allowance.
What is the maximum amount I can put into an ISA?
You can save or invest as much as you want into an ISA, so long as your contributions each year do not exceed the annual allowance. If you wanted to, you could use all of your allowance for each year on one ISA. So in year 1, you could save £20,000, in year 2, another £20,000, and in year 3, another £20,000, giving you £60,000 in one ISA.
Can I put a lump sum into an ISA?
Yes. The most you can invest at once is the annual allowance (£20,000).
Here at Nutmeg, we have a drip-feeding feature that allows you to use your ISA allowance in a cash pot, and then automatically invest your cash into the markets on a regular basis.
Can topping up my ISA reduce my liability for Capital Gains Tax?
Your ISA allowance allows you to invest without having to pay tax, dividends, or capital gains earned on your ISA investments.
The Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowance for the current tax year is £3,000. If you’re not already, it’s worth considering using an ISA as a vehicle for your investments so they are shielded from CGT. However, it’s important to know that the annual allowance for ISAs is also subject to change. Easily estimate how much you owe on your shares, second properties, and other taxable assets using our CGT calculator.
What happens if I have to do everything last minute?
Your ISA provider should be able to assist you. At Nutmeg we’ll be on hand towards the end of every tax year to let you know the key cut-off dates for ISA contributions and to remind you that you may still have some of your allowance left to use.
If you’re paying into your ISA by easy bank transfer, debit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay then you can do this right up to 23:59 on April 5th.
If you’re using Direct Debit then it is likely that you will have to pay in by an earlier date.
As with all investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your portfolio with Nutmeg can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest. Tax treatment depends on your individual circ*mstances and maybe subject to change in the future.
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