ISA allowance (2024)

FAQs

What if I accidentally went over my ISA limit? ›

Even if it's a genuine mistake, you shouldn't attempt to fix it by withdrawing money from one account. Instead, call HMRC's ISA helpline on 0300 200 3300 to explain the situation. They'll work out which ISA payment breached the limit and reclaim the money for you.

Why use your ISA allowance? The tax you would pay on capital gains on investments such as shares sits between 10% and 20%, depending on your tax position. This means holding funds in an ISA can make a lot of sense.

Your remaining ISA balance is displayed at the top of your Dashboard on the right-hand side. When you are topping up your ISA portfolios, you will also see the remaining ISA allowance to see how much you can still add this year.

Keep the account open and don't withdraw your money. Contact HMRC's ISA helpline to explain what's happened – 0300 200 3300. HMRC will work out which ISA needs to be void and tell you what to do next. This will likely involve contacting the provider of the void ISA with instructions to fix it.

The ISA allowance resets at the start of each tax year, which means the current ISA allowance (for the tax year 2024/25) will reset on the 5th April 2025 at midnight.

There is no limit to how much money can be in an ISA. The ISA allowance limit applies to how much you can pay in during each tax year (6 April to 5 April the following year). So, as long as you've paid in no more than £20,000 within a single tax year, there's no reason you can't have more than £20,000 in an ISA.

Your ISA can only be transferred to another person after your death. If you die, your spouse or civil partner can use an increased one-off allowance called an Additional Permitted Subscription (APS) to inherit your ISA.

You can accumulate as much as you like, but the tax-free annual contribution is £20,000 ISA allowance. There are four main types of ISA accounts. They include cash ISAs, lifetime ISAs, innovative finance ISAs, and stocks and shares ISAs.

Does my Lisa count towards my ISA allowance? ›

Each tax year, you can pay in up to £4,000 into your LISA, but be careful not to exceed the overall annual ISA subscription limit of £20,000, which a LISA normally counts towards. You can also open more than one Lifetime ISA, but you can only pay in to one each tax year.

In situations where you have saved in excess of this sum in your ISAs in the tax year, you will need to discuss with your ISA providers, the removal of the excess from your ISA, incuding any interest the excess generated, and return it to you. The excess interest is taxable and should be declared. Thank you.

An investor exceeds the overall subscription limit means an otherwise valid ISA will then become invalid during the tax year but it can be repaired. All tax relief (Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax) on the oversubscription will be lost up to the date of the HMRC 'repair' letter.

Frozen ISA allowances for the 2024/25 tax year

Despite some calls for an increase in annual allowances, the government has frozen these limits for this tax year (6 April 2024 - 5 April 2025). This means the overall ISA allowance is still £20,000 per tax year.

Your Cash ISA must always be in credit and cannot go overdrawn.

Update for anyone who finds this in future - I called vanguard and they confirmed they will cancel any direct debits that will take your over the annual ISA limit, no need to do anything else. Though, you do need to put a new direct debit down as it will cancel the entire thing not just the next payment.

Can I put more than £20,000 in an ISA? There is no limit to how much money can be in an ISA. The ISA allowance limit applies to how much you can pay in during each tax year (6 April to 5 April the following year).

You can have as many ISAs as you like as long as you don't exceed your £20,000 ISA allowance in any given tax year. From April 2024, you'll be able to open multiple ISAs of the same type, although the ISA allowance has remained unchanged.