Flexible ISAs - Using different providers in the same tax year

Can you take money out of a flexible ISA (either a cash isa or a stocks & shares isa) with one provider and put that money into a different provider's cash isa / stocks and shares isa? I know this needs to be done in the same tax year, but not 100% sure on the provider part. I have read that you can only put the money back into the same account that you took the money out from, but I have also read that you can move the money to a different provider.... Given the new rule introduced for the 24/25 tax year that you can deposit into multiple ISAs of the same type, it is not clear what is correct!

Hi Vnfwg33d,
If the ISA is a flexible ISA, you can return the money back into the ISA and not impact your £20000 allowance.
If you take the money out of the ISA and place in another ISA, this will be part of the £20000 that you can save each year.
Please have a look at the guidance here:
Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs)
Thank you. 

 

You have not answered my question. I understand how the £20,000 allowance works, but my question relates to using different providers / banks. For example if I put £20,000 in a Flexible ISA with Bank A this tax year, can I then transfer out all of this £20,000 and put this with Bank B in their Flexible ISA in the same tax year? My understanding is that because it is a Flexible ISA this should not be an issue? However I have also read that if you go with a different provider / bank, even if it is Flexible ISA, you need to transfer this via an ISA transfer form instead. HMRC's clarification on this would be helpful. Thank you.

Hi,

Please refer to the following guidance:

Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs): Withdrawing your money

Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs): Transferring your ISA

Thank you.

Again, you have not answered my question. Rather than providing links, can you please answer my question below with a written response on this forum: I understand how the £20,000 allowance works, but my question relates to using different providers / banks. For example if I put £20,000 in a Flexible ISA with Bank A this tax year, can I then transfer out all of this £20,000 and put this with Bank B in their Flexible ISA in the same tax year? My understanding is that because it is a Flexible ISA this should not be an issue? However I have also read that if you go with a different provider / bank, even if it is Flexible ISA, you need to transfer this via an ISA transfer form instead. HMRC's clarification on this would be helpful. Thank you.

Yeah I have the same question with this user. I do not think so you are answering the question @HMRC. We are truly trying to follow the rules but you are not helping with unclear clarifications. Again, if say I initially subscribed (this tax year) to my max allowance of 20k to a flexible cash ISA with provider A and now I intend to take some of this money out by a normal allowed withdrawal to put it in a stocks and share ISA with provider B is this allowed without affecting my 20k limit threshold for the current tax year?

Hi
This forum is for guidance only hence the links sent.
As these are from HMRC webste this is HMRC clarification. should you need further advice after refering to the links then you will need to contact us direct on 0300 200 3300.

What is the point in having a HMRC question forum where HMRC cannot answer a straight forward question. I would like this in writing so it is clear and correct, rather than having to wait 30 minutes to speak to someone and they cannot provide a simple answer either. Can you therefore please answer my question, which is below again for ease. I do not want to be provided links, just need an answer to the question: I understand how the £20,000 allowance works, but my question relates to using different providers / banks. For example if I put £20,000 in a Flexible ISA with Bank A this tax year, can I then transfer out all of this £20,000 and put this with Bank B in their Flexible ISA in the same tax year? My understanding is that because it is a Flexible ISA this should not be an issue? However I have also read that if you go with a different provider / bank, even if it is Flexible ISA, you need to transfer this via an ISA transfer form instead. HMRC's clarification on this would be helpful. Thank you.

Hi,

We can only provide general advice and guidance on this forum.  

As per the following guidance you need to have the provider do the transfer:

Transferring your ISA

Thank you.

Hi @HMRC, These are not individual cases. we need written rules. We provide examples to explain our point. If someone had 2 flexible ISAs, both with exisiting funds from previous tax years, and someone added e.g. £10,000 to each flexible ISA, could they then remove more than £10000 from one ISA and add it to the other ISA. e.g. remove £12000 and add that to the other ISA? I understand the possibility of ISA transfers, but in practice, none of the banks I have come across are offering partial transfers yet. Did anyone else on this thread find out the answer?

No, you can not do the transfer using flexible ISA rules, the money can only be re-invested in the the ORIGINAL ISA. I don't think the HMRC guides or sufficiently explicit however the very 1st response from HMRC in this thread I think is clear and did answer the question, https://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx says this principle is the 'Golden Rule' (I'm going to gloss over the page from Nationwide I found where they says it's fine...)

Hi Rebecca,
Written rules are at Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) and specifically at the sectio non withdrawing your money.
Thank you.

The point of this thread is the referenced text is ambiguous. I presume it has not been updated as the number of of ISAs avaialble has expanded, in particular the fact that you can open multiple ISAs of the same type in the same taxt year. It just says: "If your ISA is ‘flexible’, you can take out cash then put it back in during the same tax year without reducing your current year’s allowance. Your provider can tell you if your ISA is flexible." I take that mean that you can ONLY put it back in exactly the same ISA from which it came, because in my mind, it's not "putting it back" to put it elsewhere. But I can see some people taking that to be "putting it back into AN ISA, any ISA". This seems like a simple but important clarification that needs to be made to the page in question.

Hi, this question has not been answered and is not answered within the linked guidance. To help frame this and pose the question in another way. If I have a flexible cash isa and pay 20,000 in in this tax year, can I withdraw say £500 and pay it into my stocks and shares Isa this same tax year? This is a yes or no answer that is not answered by the linked guidance so please do not relink…

Hi Paul W,
You can only put it back in the same ISA, without reducing your current year allowance. Please have a look at the gudiance at:
Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs)
Thank you

What if you then transfer everything from one Flexible ISA to another, and the previous Flexible ISA is closed. Does that new ISA become the old one in a sense? Does that Flexible balance transfer with it?

Hi ,
 

If you have a flexible ISA,  you can put the money back into the same ISA and not affect your £20,000 allowance.  If you move the money to another ISA, it does affect your allowance.  You should speak to your ISA providers about this . Thank you .

How is the allowance affected if I did a partial transfer to another ISA?

Hi,
If you transfer it to a new ISA, this would be a new deposit as any funds withdrawn from a flexible ISA must be paid back into the same one in order for it not to count as new money.
Thank you.