Can I have 3 separate stocks and shares ISA
21 April 2022
Question by James
can I have 3 separate stocks & shares ISA's in any single year?
I.e. I have a cash ISA that matures at the end of March. Could I divide the money between Stocks & Shares ISA's with different companies.
Answered by Chris Broome
Hi James,
That's an excellent question to ask.
Firstly, there are rules on transferring money out of ISAs:
If you transfer an ISA in the same tax-year you put money into it (a ‘current year’ ISA), you must transfer all of it, which means the deposit amounts and any interest accrued.
If all the money in an ISA is from a previous tax-year, the only restriction on how much can be transferred out is one imposed by the ISA manager i.e. they may not permit partial transfers.
If the current year ISA also contains subscriptions from ‘previous years’, there is a calculation that the ISA manager must do if a partial transfer is requested by a new ISA manager. This calculation will produce an amount within a lower and upper limit that is available for transfer.
Secondly, there are rules on opening ISAs:
You cannot subscribe to more than one stocks and shares ISA in a single tax year. ‘Subscribe’ would include opening a new ISA, or adding new capital to an existing ISA.
However, transferring money into a new ISA from previous years, within the transfer conditions above, won’t count as a subscription to a new ISA. Therefore, you should be able to open three new ISAs to receive transfers relating to previous years, subject to the existing ISA manager being happy to process those transfers.
I think that covers everything you've raised. Good luck with what you do next and keep up the good work on saving for your future.
Chris Broome.
