Stocks & Shares ISA

What is an ISA?

One of the most popular accounts for UK tax payers, an Individual Savings Account (ISA) is a type of account for holding cash and investments. The biggest benefit is that you do not have to pay any UK income tax or capital gains tax on any growth. There are a few different types of ISA but at Wealthsimple we currently only support Stocks & Shares ISAs.

You have to be a UK tax payer of 18 years of age and not have taken out a Stocks & Shares ISA this year. You can invest up to the annual limit set by the government each year. This year it’s £20,000.

What if I have already opened an ISA this year?

You can only have one funded Stocks and Shares ISA per tax year (the current tax year is from 6th April 2018 onwards).If you have already funded a Stocks & Shares ISA with another institution this tax year, you can transfer your existing ISA to us. You can learn how to make a transfer here Transferring an investment account. Otherwise, you will need to wait until the next tax year (April 6, 2019) to set up a Wealthsimple ISA.

While you cannot have multiple stocks and shares ISAs in the same tax year, you can contribute to a Stocks and Shares ISA, Cash ISA, Lifetime ISA and Help to Buy ISA at the same time, as long as you don't go over your contribution limits. For example, The Lifetime ISA contribution limit is £4,000, so if you were to max out your LISA, you would have another £16,000 to contribute to your other types of ISA's.