How to Transfer an ISA Without Losing Tax

By Tom Ashby, Editor · Updated 11 October 2026

4 min read · Facts checked against official sources on 11 October 2026

In short

Always ask your new provider to arrange the transfer. If you withdraw the money yourself, it loses its ISA status.
Transfers don't use any of this year's allowance, and you can move all or part of an ISA, from any tax year.
Cash ISA transfers should take no more than 15 working days; other transfers no more than 30 calendar days.
From 6 April 2027, under-65s won't be able to transfer from a stocks and shares ISA into a cash ISA.
Check for exit fees and fixed-rate penalties first, and whether investments can move without being sold.

Maximum for cash ISA to cash ISA transfers: 15 working days
Maximum for other ISA transfers: 30 calendar days
Allowance used by a transfer: £0
Charge for moving a Lifetime ISA to another ISA type before 60: 25%

On this page

How do you transfer an ISA?
How long does an ISA transfer take?
What can you transfer?
Cash or investments: can you move between them?
Will your investments be sold?
Are there fees or penalties for transferring?
Transferring a Lifetime ISA
Transferring a Junior ISA
Common mistakes to avoid
Related guides
Sources

Transferring an ISA moves your savings or investments to a different provider, or a different type of ISA, while keeping them tax-free. People transfer to get a better interest rate, lower charges or a wider choice of investments. Done properly, a transfer doesn’t use any of your current allowance. Done the wrong way, by withdrawing the money and paying it in elsewhere, it can permanently lose its tax-free status. This guide explains how to get it right.

How do you transfer an ISA?

Choose your new ISA and check it accepts transfers in. Not every provider does.
Check your current ISA’s terms for exit fees, fixed-rate penalties, and whether your investments can be moved as they are.
Apply to the new provider for a transfer, giving details of your existing ISA. Don’t close your old ISA or withdraw the money yourself.
The new provider contacts the old one, which sends the money or investments across, with a record of what you’ve paid in this year.
Check it has arrived and been invested as you intended.

GOV.UK is clear on the key rule: contact the provider you want to move to. If you withdraw the money without doing this, you won’t be able to reinvest that part of your tax-free allowance.

How long does an ISA transfer take?

According to GOV.UK, transfers should take no longer than:

Type of transfer	Maximum time
Cash ISA to cash ISA	15 working days
Other transfers, including stocks and shares	30 calendar days
Investments in an innovative finance ISA	Ask your provider

Your money keeps its ISA status throughout. If a stocks and shares ISA is sold to cash for the transfer, it will be out of the market for the time the transfer takes, so it won’t rise or fall with prices in that period.

What can you transfer?

All or part of an ISA. You can move the whole ISA or just some of it.
Money from any tax year. HMRC’s rules allow you to transfer some or all of this year’s payments and some or all of previous years’.
Between types. You can move between cash, stocks and shares and innovative finance ISAs, and into a Lifetime ISA (see below).

Transfers aren’t new payments, so they don’t count towards your £20,000 allowance. You can move an ISA and still pay in your full allowance that year. Our ISA allowance checker helps keep track of what you’ve paid in.

Cash or investments: can you move between them?

Yes, for now. You can transfer from a cash ISA to a stocks and shares ISA, or the other way round. From 6 April 2027, under regulations laid in September 2026, people under 65 won’t be able to transfer from a stocks and shares or innovative finance ISA into a cash ISA. Moving cash into investments will still be allowed. The restriction doesn’t apply if you’re 65 or over at the end of the tax year. Our ISA allowance guide explains the other rules starting then, including the £12,000 cash ISA limit for under-65s.

Will your investments be sold?

Stocks and shares ISAs can move in two ways:

In specie: your investments move across as they are, so you stay invested throughout.
As cash: your investments are sold, the cash is transferred, and you reinvest it with the new provider.

Since February 2021, FCA rules require investment platforms to offer an in-specie transfer of fund units where the receiving platform offers the same fund, and to carry out transfer instructions efficiently. Shares and ETFs are often transferred in specie too, but that depends on both providers. Ask your new provider which method it will use.

Are there fees or penalties for transferring?

Exit fees. FCA rules don’t ban them, so check your current provider’s charges. Some new providers offer to cover them.
Fixed-rate cash ISAs. MoneyHelper warns that your provider might charge a penalty for transferring, and fixed-term accounts may have charges for leaving before the term ends.
Selling costs, if your investments are sold rather than moved in specie.

Weigh these against what you’ll gain. Our platform fee calculator compares yearly costs, so you can see how quickly lower charges would cover a one-off exit fee.

Transferring a Lifetime ISA

Lifetime ISA to another Lifetime ISA: no charge, and no limit on the amount. HMRC guidance says these transfers should complete within 30 calendar days.
Another ISA into a Lifetime ISA: allowed, but the amount counts towards that year’s £4,000 Lifetime ISA limit.
Lifetime ISA to another type of ISA before you’re 60: treated as a withdrawal, so the 25% charge applies unless you’re terminally ill.

Our Lifetime ISA guide covers the rest of the rules.

Transferring a Junior ISA

Only the account’s registered contact, usually a parent, can move a Junior ISA to another provider or switch it between cash and stocks and shares. A Child Trust Fund can be transferred into a Junior ISA, but not back again. Our Junior ISA guide explains how.

Common mistakes to avoid

Withdrawing the money yourself. It loses its ISA status, and you can only put it back using this year’s allowance.
Closing the old ISA first. Let the new provider handle the whole transfer.
Forgetting about penalties on fixed-rate cash ISAs, or exit fees.
Not checking flexible ISA features. If your current ISA is flexible and you’ve withdrawn money this tax year, ask both providers how a transfer affects your ability to replace it.
Leaving it to the last week before 5 April if you also want to use this year’s allowance with the new provider.

Sources

Our guides are general information and education, not personal financial advice. If you are unsure whether an investment is right for you, speak to a regulated financial adviser. Capital at risk. Investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you put in.