ISA allowance rules for 2026/27: the £20,000 limit, ISA types, transfers and the 2027 cash ISA change

The £20,000 allowance

GOV.UK: "In the 2026 to 2027 tax year, the maximum you can save in ISAs is £20,000." The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. You can put the whole amount into one account or split it across several. You do not pay tax on interest on cash in an ISA, or on income or capital gains from investments in an ISA, and you do not need to declare them on a tax return.

Your ISAs do not close when the tax year ends, and money already inside keeps its tax-free status for as long as it stays there. The allowance is for new money paid in during the year.

The four types of adult ISA

Two changes from 6 April 2026 are worth noticing: cryptoasset exchange traded notes cannot be held in a stocks and shares ISA unless they were held there before 6 April 2026 (they belong in an innovative finance ISA), and long-term asset funds cannot be held in an innovative finance ISA unless they were held there before that date.

You must be 18 or over to open an ISA (18 to 39 for a Lifetime ISA), and resident in the UK, or a Crown servant or armed forces member, or their spouse or civil partner, if you live abroad. You cannot hold an ISA jointly with someone else.

How you can split it: GOV.UK's examples

Each of these adds up to exactly £20,000 in one tax year:

• £15,000 cash ISA + £2,000 stocks and shares ISA + £3,000 innovative finance ISA
• £11,000 cash ISA + £2,000 stocks and shares ISA + £3,000 innovative finance ISA + £4,000 Lifetime ISA
• £10,000 in one cash ISA + £3,000 in another cash ISA + £7,000 stocks and shares ISA

The third example shows you can pay into more than one ISA of the same type in a year. The exception is the Lifetime ISA: you can only pay into one Lifetime ISA in a tax year, up to £4,000, and that £4,000 is part of the £20,000, not on top of it.

Junior ISAs: £9,000

"In the 2026 to 2027 tax year, the savings limit for Junior ISAs is £9,000." This is the child's allowance and sits separately from your own £20,000. Anyone can pay in, but the total cannot go over £9,000 in the tax year. The money belongs to the child: they can take control of the account at 16 but cannot withdraw until 18, when the Junior ISA automatically turns into an adult ISA. A child cannot have both a Junior ISA and a Child Trust Fund; the trust fund can be transferred into a Junior ISA. Money cannot be transferred between a Junior ISA and an adult ISA.

Withdrawals and flexible ISAs

You can take money out of an ISA at any time without losing the tax benefits (Lifetime ISAs have their own rules — see our Lifetime ISA penalty guide). What matters for the allowance is whether your ISA is flexible. GOV.UK's example:

With a flexible ISA, money you take out can be replaced in the same tax year without using up more allowance. Your provider can tell you whether your ISA is flexible.

Transferring an ISA

You can transfer all or part of an ISA to another provider at any time, into the same type or a different type, including money paid in during previous years. The key rule: use a transfer, not a withdrawal. GOV.UK says to contact the provider you want to move to and fill in an ISA transfer form; "If you withdraw the money without doing this, you will not be able to reinvest that part of your tax-free allowance again." Transfers should take no longer than 15 working days between cash ISAs and 30 calendar days for other types. There are restrictions for Lifetime ISAs and Junior ISAs, and providers may charge.

One thing you cannot do: GOV.UK says "You cannot transfer any non-ISA shares you already own into an ISA unless they're from an employee share scheme."

The cash ISA change from 6 April 2027

HMRC's Tax-free savings newsletter 23 (published 29 September 2026) says the Individual Savings Account (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2026 were laid before Parliament on 14 September 2026 and "will come into force on 6 April 2027". It states:

• the overall annual ISA subscription limit will stay at £20,000
• investors aged under 65 can subscribe up to £12,000 of their annual allowance to cash ISAs

The same regulations add rules aimed at stopping people getting around the lower cash limit: a flat-rate charge, at the savings basic rate, on interest that providers pay on cash held in stocks and shares and innovative finance ISAs; a ban on under-65s transferring from a stocks and shares or innovative finance ISA to a cash ISA; and a rule that stocks and shares ISA investments cannot consist entirely of money market funds (this last one will not apply to Junior ISAs). HMRC says it will publish updated ISA manager guidance before the changes take effect.

None of this changes the rules for 2026/27, which run until 5 April 2027.

If you move abroad or die

If you become non-UK resident you cannot pay into your ISA (unless you are a Crown employee working overseas, or their spouse or civil partner), but you can keep it open and keep the UK tax relief. On death, there is no Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax on the ISA up to its closure, but ISA investments form part of the estate for Inheritance Tax; a surviving spouse or civil partner can add an extra tax-free amount to their own allowance, up to the value held in the ISA when the person died or when it is closed.

Frequently asked questions