Unused allowance is gone on 5 April
Nothing carries over. Putting £10,000 in this year doesn't let you put £30,000 in next year.
ISA Rules 2026/27: Allowance, Types and Bed and ISA
You can put £20,000 into ISAs between 6 April 2026 and 5 April 2027, split however you like between stocks and shares, cash, innovative finance and a Lifetime ISA. Interest, dividends and gains inside are free of UK tax and never go on your tax return. The allowance doesn't carry over, and from 6 April 2027 anyone under 65 can put no more than £12,000 of it in cash.
Every adult£20,000a tax year across all your ISAs, frozen until April 2031
Lifetime ISA£4,000of that £20,000, with a 25% bonus of up to £1,000
Junior ISA£9,000a year for each child, on top of yours
From 6 April 2027£12,000most you can pay into cash ISAs if you're under 65
The five types of ISA
Four share your £20,000. The Junior ISA has its own allowance and belongs to the child.
| ISA | Yearly limit | Who can open one | What goes in | Taking money out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stocks and shares ISA | £20,000shared | UK residents aged 18 or over | Shares (AIM ones too), funds, ETFs, investment trusts, bonds and cash | Any time, tax-free. A flexible ISA lets you put cash back in the same tax year without using more allowance |
| Cash ISA | £20,000£12,000 from April 2027 if under 65 | UK residents aged 18 or over | Savings accounts and cash deposits | Any time, subject to the account's notice or fixed term |
| Lifetime ISA | £4,000inside the £20,000 | Aged 18 to 39 to open; you can pay in until 50 | Cash or investments, plus a 25% government bonus | Free from 60, with under 12 months to live, or paid through your conveyancer for a first UK home up to £450,000 bought with a mortgage, 12 months or more after your first payment. Otherwise a 25% charge |
| Innovative finance ISA | £20,000shared | UK residents aged 18 or over | Peer-to-peer loans, crowdfunding debentures and some bonds | When the loans allow; this money can be locked up |
| Junior ISA | £9,000per child, separate | A parent or guardian, for a UK resident child under 18. From 16 a child can open their own | Cash or investments; a child can hold one of each. A Child Trust Fund has to be moved in, not kept alongside | Locked until 18. The child can run it from 16 |
Stocks and shares ISA
- Limit
- £20,000, shared
- Who
- UK residents aged 18 or over
- Holds
- Shares (AIM ones too), funds, ETFs, investment trusts, bonds and cash
- Out
- Any time, tax-free; a flexible ISA lets you put cash back in the same tax year
Cash ISA
- Limit
- £20,000; £12,000 from April 2027 if under 65
- Who
- UK residents aged 18 or over
- Holds
- Savings accounts and cash deposits
- Out
- Any time, subject to notice or fixed terms
Lifetime ISA
- Limit
- £4,000, inside the £20,000
- Who
- Aged 18 to 39 to open; pay in until 50
- Holds
- Cash or investments, plus a 25% bonus
- Out
- Free from 60, with under 12 months to live, or paid through your conveyancer for a first UK home up to £450,000 bought with a mortgage, 12 months or more after your first payment; otherwise a 25% charge
Innovative finance ISA
- Limit
- £20,000, shared
- Who
- UK residents aged 18 or over
- Holds
- Peer-to-peer loans, crowdfunding debentures, some bonds
- Out
- When the loans allow
Junior ISA
- Limit
- £9,000 per child, separate
- Who
- A parent or guardian, for a UK resident child under 18; from 16 the child can open their own
- Holds
- Cash or investments, one of each; a Child Trust Fund has to be moved in first
- Out
- Locked until 18; the child runs it from 16
Three ways to use one £20,000
Any mix works as long as the total stays within £20,000 and the Lifetime ISA within £4,000.
All in shares
First home saver (LISA)
Under 65 from April 2027, most cash allowed
What has changed, and what changes next
The rules move every couple of years. These are the ones that touch you now.
More freedom to use several providers
- You can pay into several ISAs of the same type in one tax year.
- Money paid in this year can be partly transferred, if your provider offers it.
- Adult cash ISAs became 18 and over.
Fractional shares can sit in an ISA
Brokers that sell slices of a share can now hold them inside your stocks and shares ISA.
Dividends outside an ISA cost more
Dividend tax went up to 10.75% for basic rate and 35.75% for higher rate taxpayers (39.35% additional rate unchanged), above a £500 allowance. Inside an ISA it's still nothing.
Cash ISA limit falls to £12,000 for under-65s
- The overall £20,000 stays. Under 65, at most £12,000 of it can go into cash ISAs; at 65 or over it can all be cash.
- Under-65s can't transfer stocks and shares or innovative finance ISA money into a cash ISA.
- Whatever your age, interest on cash held in an adult stocks and shares or innovative finance ISA is charged at 22%, and money market funds can't make up all of a stocks and shares ISA's investments other than cash.
- Outside an ISA, savings interest above your tax-free allowances is taxed at 22%, 42% and 47%.
Allowances frozen
The £20,000 adult and £9,000 Junior ISA allowances stay where they are until 5 April 2031.
A First Time Buyer ISA to replace the Lifetime ISA
The Treasury consulted on a simpler first-home product until 18 August 2026. Nothing is legislated and there's no start date. You can still open a Lifetime ISA, and existing ones carry on under today's rules.
The ISA rules that catch people out
Most expensive ISA mistakes come from one of these.
Taking money out doesn't give you allowance back
Pay in £20,000, withdraw £5,000, and you can't pay in again this tax year. Only a flexible ISA lets you replace it, and only before 5 April. Lifetime and Junior ISAs are never flexible.
Move ISAs by transfer, never by withdrawal
Ask the new provider to transfer it and the money keeps its ISA status without using this year's allowance. Withdraw it yourself and it's just cash again. Lifetime ISAs differ: money moved in from another type of ISA counts towards the £4,000, and moving a Lifetime ISA into another type before 60 usually costs the 25% charge.
Losses inside an ISA don't count
No tax on gains also means no relief for losses. A loss inside your ISA can't be set against gains in a general account.
The Lifetime ISA charge costs you more than the bonus
Pay in £4,000, get £1,000 of bonus, and take the £5,000 out for anything else: the 25% charge is £1,250, so you get £3,750 back. That's £250 less than you paid in.
Moving abroad freezes it
You keep the ISA and it stays free of UK tax, but you can't add to it while you're not UK resident, unless you're a Crown employee or married to one. Your new country may tax it.
When an ISA holder dies, the account stays tax-free while the estate is dealt with, for up to three years. A surviving spouse or civil partner also gets an extra one-off allowance equal to the ISA's value, on top of their own £20,000.
What the ISA wrapper saves you
The same investments held in a general account, at 2026/27 rates.
Dividends on £100,000
A portfolio paying 3%, so £3,000 a year, for a higher rate taxpayer.
General account, every year£893.75
Inside an ISA£0
(£3,000 − £500 allowance) × 35.75%. A basic rate taxpayer pays £268.75.
Selling with a £30,000 gain
Shares bought for £50,000 and sold for £80,000, no other gains that year.
General account, at 24%£6,480
Inside an ISA£0
(£30,000 − £3,000 exempt) × 24%. At 18%, if the gain fits in your basic rate band: £4,860.
Paperwork
Gains above the £3,000 exempt amount have to be reported to HMRC, and so do sales over £50,000 if you already file Self Assessment.
General accountReport
Inside an ISANothing
ISA income and gains don't go on a Self Assessment return at all.
Bed and ISA: move your investments in, and see the tax
Sell in your general account, buy the same thing back inside your ISA. The sale is taxed; the buyback isn't matched to it, so the gain is worked out from your average cost.
Moving it all into your ISA
3 tax years, £2,640 tax
At today's prices, with a gain of £20,000 on £60,000.
This tax year£880tax on moving £20,000
Dividends sheltered£1,200a year once it's all inside
Year by year
Each bar is the whole £60,000: already in your ISA, moved that year, and still outside.
- Already in your ISA
- Moved that tax year
- Still in the general account
| Tax year | Sold and rebought in the ISA | Gain | Taxable | Tax | Left outside |
|---|
Prices are held at today's value and later years assume no other gains, a £3,000 exempt amount and a £20,000 allowance. Costs of dealing are left out; they reduce the gain.
Your ISA, SIPP and general account in one place
Every account as its own portfolio, and one view across all of them.
Bed and ISA, done right
Only the general account goes on your return
Mark an account as an ISA, or just name it one, and its gains and dividends stay out of your tax figures, in the free tax report and in the SA108 pack. Here 200 shares were sold in the general account and bought back in the ISA the same day. The pack matches the sale to the pool, not to the buyback: a £7,000 gain, £4,000 of it taxable. Your ISA, SIPP and general accounts from every broker sit side by side, each with its own returns and dividends.
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ISA questions
How much can I put in an ISA in 2026/27?
£20,000 between 6 April 2026 and 5 April 2027, across every adult ISA you pay into. A Lifetime ISA takes up to £4,000 of that £20,000. A Junior ISA has its own £9,000 for each child and doesn't touch yours. Both allowances are frozen until 5 April 2031, and whatever you don't use by 5 April is gone.
Can I have more than one ISA?
Yes. Since 6 April 2024 you can pay into as many cash, stocks and shares and innovative finance ISAs as you like in the same tax year, as long as the total stays within £20,000. The exceptions are the Lifetime ISA, where you can pay into one a year, and Junior ISAs, where a child can hold one cash and one stocks and shares ISA.
What is Bed and ISA?
Selling investments in a taxable account and buying them straight back inside your ISA, so future growth and dividends are tax-free. The sale counts for capital gains tax, but the buyback inside the ISA isn't matched to it under the same-day or 30-day rules, so the gain is worked out from the average cost of your holding. Keep each year's gains within the £3,000 allowance and the move costs no tax at all.
Do I need to put my ISA on my tax return?
No. Interest, dividends and gains inside an ISA are free of UK tax and don't go on your Self Assessment return. The flip side is that a loss made inside an ISA can't be used against gains elsewhere.
Is the cash ISA limit changing?
Yes, from 6 April 2027. If you are under 65 at the end of the tax year, no more than £12,000 of your £20,000 can go into cash ISAs, and you won't be able to move stocks and shares or innovative finance ISA money into a cash ISA. If you turn 65 that year or are older, you can still put the full £20,000 in cash. The rules were made in September 2026 and start on 6 April 2027.
What happens to my ISA if I move abroad?
You keep it and it stays free of UK tax, but you can't pay anything new into it while you're not UK resident, unless you're a Crown employee such as a diplomat or in the armed forces, or married to one. Tell your provider when you leave. The country you move to may tax the income, because the ISA is a UK wrapper.
Sources
Checked on 23 October 2026.
- GOV.UK: Individual Savings Accounts, allowance, types, transfers, moving abroad.
- GOV.UK: Lifetime ISA, limits, bonus, withdrawal charge and the £450,000 cap.
- GOV.UK: Junior ISAs, the £9,000 limit and control at 16.
- ISA (Amendment) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/1018, made 10 September 2026: the April 2027 cash ISA changes.
- HMRC tax-free savings newsletter 23, 29 September 2026: the final 2027 rules.
- Budget 2025, 26 November 2025: allowances frozen to 5 April 2031.
- SI 2024/350, the April 2024 changes; SI 2024/1022, fractional shares from 4 November 2024.
- HM Treasury: First Time Buyer ISA consultation, closed 18 August 2026.
- ISA Regulations 1998, regulation 34, ISA holdings kept apart for share matching; regulation 22, ISA losses disregarded.
- GOV.UK: Capital Gains Tax rates and tax on dividends, 2026/27 rates and allowances.
- HMRC: managing ISA subscriptions, flexible ISAs, updated 18 September 2025.
- HMRC: additional permitted subscriptions, ISAs on death, updated 6 April 2024.
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