Individual Savings Account (ISA)

The income from ISA invest­ments is exempt from income tax. Any cap­i­tal gains made on invest­ments held in an ISA are exempt from cap­i­tal gains tax.

Savers are able to sub­scribe any amounts into a cash ISA, a stocks and shares ISA or an inno­v­a­tive finance ISA sub­ject to not exceed­ing the over­all annu­al invest­ment lim­it.

Investors may trans­fer their invest­ments from one kind of ISA to anoth­er.

The Life­time ISA is avail­able for those aged between 18 and 40. Save up to £4,000 each year up until the age of 50, and receive a gov­ern­ment bonus of 25% (a bonus of up to £1,000 a year). Savers can use some or all of the mon­ey to buy their first home, or keep it until they are aged 60 when the account can be accessed tax free. Con­di­tions apply to the account hold­er and prop­er­ty pur­chased. Penal­ties apply if funds are with­drawn in oth­er cir­cum­stances.

A Help to Buy ISA pro­vides a tax free sav­ings account for first time buy­ers wish­ing to save for a home. The scheme pro­vides a gov­ern­ment bonus to each per­son who has saved into a Help to Buy ISA at the point they use their sav­ings to pur­chase their first home. For every £200 a first time buy­er saves, the gov­ern­ment will pro­vide a £50 bonus up to a max­i­mum bonus of £3,000 on £12,000 of sav­ings. The bonus will be paid in the form of a vouch­er when the first home is pur­chased. Con­di­tions apply to the account hold­er and to the prop­er­ty pur­chased. Help to Buy ISAs closed to new savers on 30 Novem­ber 2019. Exist­ing hold­ers can con­tin­ue sav­ing until 30 Novem­ber 2029 and will have until 1 Decem­ber 2030 to claim their bonus.