The ISA allowance for 2026/27 explained
Quick answer: Your annual ISA allowance is £20,000 for 2026/27 — the same headline figure that's now applied unchanged since 2017/18.
Your annual ISA allowance is £20,000 for 2026/27 — the same headline figure that's now applied unchanged since 2017/18. You can split it however you like between Cash, Stocks & Shares, Innovative Finance and Lifetime ISAs, and since April 2024 you can pay into more than one ISA of the same type in the same year. The allowance is per person, not per couple, and it doesn't roll over — anything not used by 5 April is gone.
Last reviewed:
Primary source: gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts
What counts towards the £20,000
Any new money you pay into a Cash ISA, Stocks & Shares ISA, Innovative Finance ISA or Lifetime ISA in the tax year counts towards the £20,000 allowance.
Transfers from a previous tax year's ISA into a new one do not use up any of the current year's allowance — only new money does.
Interest, dividends and growth inside the ISA do not use up the allowance either. Once inside, the money stays tax-sheltered for as long as it remains in any ISA.
Splitting it across ISA types
You can split your £20,000 in any way across the four adult ISA types. A common pattern is some emergency cash in a Cash ISA, long-term investing in a Stocks & Shares ISA, and a Lifetime ISA contribution if you qualify and have a clear use for it.
From April 2024 the 'one ISA of each type per year' rule was relaxed — you can pay into more than one Cash ISA or more than one Stocks & Shares ISA in the same year, as long as the £20,000 cap is respected.
The Lifetime ISA twist
The Lifetime ISA has its own £4,000 sub-cap, and the 25% government bonus is paid on contributions, not on growth. Maximum bonus is therefore £1,000 a year per person.
Withdrawals are only penalty-free for a first home worth up to £450,000, or after age 60. Any other withdrawal incurs a 25% government charge — which removes the bonus and a small slice of your own money.
Worked example — splitting £20,000 across the year
A 32-year-old saving for a first home and long-term retirement might split their allowance like this: £4,000 into a Lifetime ISA (claiming the maximum £1,000 government bonus), £10,000 into a Stocks & Shares ISA for long-term retirement money, and the remaining £6,000 into an easy-access Cash ISA as an emergency fund. All within the £20,000 limit.
Note the Lifetime ISA's £4,000 counts towards the £20,000 — it doesn't sit on top. So the maximum that can ever be paid in across all adult ISAs combined is £20,000.
Junior ISAs are completely separate from the adult £20,000 — paying £9,000 a year into a child's JISA does not reduce the parent's own allowance at all.
The 5 April deadline and end-of-year mistakes
Most providers cut their cut-off for new ISA contributions earlier than midnight on 5 April — typically 6pm or earlier for cheques, midnight for online debit-card payments. Check your provider's published deadline a week in advance.
If you have multiple Cash ISAs and accidentally exceed £20,000 of total new money in a tax year, contact HMRC's ISA Helpline (0300 200 3300). Where they treat the over-payment as 'repairable', the excess is paid back and the tax-free status of the rest is preserved. Where it is not repairable, the income on the over-payment becomes taxable.
Common questions
- Does the £20,000 reset on 6 April?
- Yes. The ISA tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. A fresh £20,000 allowance becomes available on 6 April each year and any unused allowance from the previous year is lost.
- Can I transfer an old ISA without using my allowance?
- Yes. Transfers between ISAs (whether between providers or between types) do not use up any of your current year's allowance, as long as you use the formal transfer process rather than withdrawing and re-paying.
- Are ISAs really tax-free?
- Yes — no Income Tax on interest or dividends inside the ISA, and no Capital Gains Tax on profits. The 2017 rules also made most ISAs inheritable by a surviving spouse without losing the tax-free status.
- Can my partner and I each have our own £20,000?
- Yes — the allowance is per individual. A couple can shelter up to £40,000 between them in the same tax year, and £80,000 the year after if both use the full allowance each year.
- What happens to my ISA when I die?
- Under rules introduced in April 2018, a surviving spouse or civil partner gets a one-off Additional Permitted Subscription equal to the value of the deceased's ISAs — preserving the tax-free status. The ISA wrapper itself ends but the inheritor can re-shelter the same value without it counting towards their normal £20,000 limit.
- Do bonuses or dividends inside an ISA use up my allowance?
- No. Only new money you pay in counts towards the £20,000. Interest, dividends, capital growth and the Lifetime ISA's 25% government bonus all happen inside the ISA wrapper and do not reduce your allowance.