Opening two cash ISAs clarification please.

[raybarrow]

Hi Folks,

Current ISA now over £85,000 and rate has dropped.

Rule says you cannot open two cash ISA in same tax year transfers in do not count.

It's that transfers in do not count I'm not sure on. Does this mean I could open a new cash ISA transfer £85,000 in and then open a different new cash ISA and transfer the excess over £85,000 and add new investment money (up to the £20,000 limit).

We do have other investments/savings etc. This is just about understanding the ISA rule.

Cheers,
Ray.

[tjh290633]

As I understand it, you cannot subscribe to two cash ISAs in a year. You can, however subscribe to one and transfer cash from another cash ISA (or a share ISA) into another in the same year. You can only open one cash ISA and one share ISA in a year.

TJH

[swill453]

As I understand it, you cannot subscribe to two cash ISAs in a year. You can, however subscribe to one and transfer cash from another cash ISA (or a share ISA) into another in the same year. You can only open one cash ISA and one share ISA in a year.

"Subscribe" in that context means "add new money to". Your last sentence isn't strictly true, you should have used "subscribe" again instead of "open".

The answer to the OP's question is yes (despite "opening" two cash ISAs in the same year).

Scott.

[SteelCamel]

There's one more point - you can't transfer the "new" money ("this year's subscriptions" to use the official term) unless you transfer all of it. At any point you can only have "new" money in one of each type of ISA. So you could pay in £5000 to an ISA, transfer it all to another ISA, and pay in £5000 to that new ISA. But you couldn't transfer half of it, nor can you pay in more money to the original ISA once you transferred the new money out.

All "new" money becomes "old" money when the tax year ends, and you can transfer "old" money between ISAs however you like. And there are no restrictions at all on opening ISAs, you can open as many as you want at any time (as long as you comply with the provider's conditions).

[raybarrow]

Thanks Folks for confirming what I thought.

Ray.