Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) let you save cash tax-free. Any income you make in an ISA is tax-free. However, there’s an annual limit on how much you can put in your ISA, called the ISA allowance.
More about the Stocks & Shares and the Cash ISA 👇
How does the ISA allowance work?
£20,000 is the maximum amount you can contribute to your ISAs each tax year. The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. This allowance is shared between all of your ISAs. If you have a Stocks ISA and a Cash ISA, you can’t contribute more than £20,000 to them combined. However, there are no restrictions on how you split the £20,000 allowance. You can put it all in one account or split it across multiple accounts with different providers.
📄 Note
For example, with a Stocks ISA and a Cash ISA at Trading 212, you may contribute £10,000 to each within a tax year.
Can I withdraw from ISAs?
Your 212 ISAs are flexible. You can add or withdraw funds from your ISA during the current tax year.
You can also withdraw funds contributed in previous tax years. You can replace some or all of these funds up to this amount in the current tax year without affecting your ISA allowance, as long as they are returned to the same 212 ISA account within the current tax year.
📄 Note
If you have funds available for replacement, you will see them in the "Replaceable funds" section.
Can I open an ISA?
Any UK tax resident aged 18 or over can have a 212 ISA.
What are the different types of ISAs?
There are five types of ISAs:
- Cash ISA
- Stocks & Shares ISA
- Innovative finance ISA
- Lifetime ISA
- Junior ISA
📄 Note
With Trading 212, you can have a Stocks & Shares ISA and Cash ISA.
Can I transfer an existing ISA?
You can transfer your ISAs in and out of Trading 212 without any restrictions or fees, although your other broker may charge you a fee.
To learn more about ISA transfers, visit our ISA & Portfolio transfers section.
How might transferring funds impact my ISA allowance?
You can transfer funds between your 212 ISAs, e.g. from Stocks ISA to Cash ISA. This will result in Available Cash in both of your 212 ISAs automatically adjusting to reflect the amounts transferred between them. Your ISA allowance breakdown may change to reflect the transfer where any current year subscriptions are transferred between the 212 ISAs.
Transfers of previous-year funds won’t affect your ISA allowance.
💡 Example
You have £15,000 Available Cash and current year contributions in your Cash ISA, and decide to transfer £5,000 to your Stocks ISA. The Available Cash and the current year contribution within the Cash ISA will reduce by this amount, while the Available Cash and current year contributions in your Stocks ISA will increase.
📄 Note
Transferring between an ISA and a non-ISA account (like CFD or Invest) will always impact your ISA allowance.
Can I have multiple ISAs?
You can have multiple ISAs with multiple brokers. It is your responsibility to make sure you don’t go over your ISA allowance limit, whether you have ISAs just with Trading 212 and/or ISAs with other ISA providers.
If you think you may have contributed more than the annual allowance, please contact HMRC for more information.
What can I hold in an ISA?
- 💰 Cash ISA: You will only be able to hold cash in a Cash ISA. Investments and any other non-cash financial instruments are prohibited.
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📈Stocks ISA: In your 212 Stocks ISA you can hold sticks, ETFs, cash and certain instruments resulting from corporate actions.
The UK’s HMRC defines which investments are eligible. Most stocks and ETFs are eligible but their status can change if they get delisted from a certain exchange. A common example is a down listing from a US stock exchange, like NASDAQ or NYSE, to OTC Markets. Unlike NASDAQ and NYSE, OTC Markets is not a recognised exchange by HMRC, so most investments would be ineligible.
If you hold shares that no longer qualify for your Stocks ISA account, you’ll be notified of this change via email and in-app notification. You’ll usually be able to hold or sell your shares up to a specific deadline, after which they’ll be automatically sold. The proceeds from these sales can remain in your Stocks ISA.
Can I keep my 212 ISA if I move abroad?
If you open a 212 ISA in the UK and later relocate abroad, you are generally not allowed to add more funds to it unless you are a Crown employee working overseas or their spouse or civil partner.
When you move abroad:
- You should inform Trading 212 that you no longer reside in the UK.
- You can keep your existing 212 ISA and continue to benefit from tax relief on the funds and investments already in it.
- You cannot make new contributions while living outside the UK.
If you come back and become a UK tax resident once more, you can resume contributing to your 212 ISA.
❗️ Important
You will be able to retain your 212 ISA only when moving to one of the supported countries.