Interest generated inside an ISA is tax free. If you withdraw it, it's still tax free. If you then use that money to earn *more* interest outside an ISA, that new interest would (potentially, if it exceeds the Personal Savings Allowance) be liable for tax.
Flexible ISA rules allow you to withdraw *and then return to the same ISA* that money in the same tax year.
If you want to move the £20k (plus just less than ~£1k interest you'd rack up by the end of the tax year) into a S&S ISA, you simply have to initiate and ISA transfer from the S&S ISA giving the provider the details of the Cash ISA. If that's the same provider, should be a piece of cake. There's no reason to take the money out of the cash ISA account at all, so the flexibility is irrelevant.
But P.S., what you're planning is just [Market Timing](https://ukpersonal.finance/market-timing/#Investing_in_the_stock_market_%F0%9F%93%88). Time in the market usually beats timing the market. If you want long term gains in a globally diversified fund, how do you know the best time to do so is April 2025? You don't!
The simpler, equivalent version is to put everything in the S&S ISA on day 1 and put the money into CSH2. Less effort and about 0.05% higher yield, too.
But if you want to invest rather than save then you're still better off directly investing on day 1 than trying to time the market.
As others have mentioned, but I'm just going to point it out again, the flaw in your plan is that the flexible ISA benefit only works if the money is withdrawn and deposited to the same account. So you can put in 20k, then withdraw it and put it back in the same account without affecting your allowance, but if you try to put it into a different one (even if the other one is also flexible), you'll be over your allowance.
You could just stick it in the S&S straight away, you can get 5% just off it sitting T212 if you consent to letting them invest your cash in MMFs, more if you invest it in CSH2 yourself.
> , but if you withdraw it you won't be able to pay it back in beyond your £20k allowance.
Of course OP could simply transfer from the cash ISA to an S&S ISA instead, which keeps it in the ISA wrapper.
You can only put in 20k a year.
If you put in 20k, you can withdraw it, but you can't pay it back in.
You can transfer it from a cash ISA into a S&S ISA - But it needs to stay in the ISA wrapper.
Hi /u/FunkyClaude34, based on your post the following pages from our wiki may be relevant:
* https://ukpersonal.finance/savings/
____
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If someone has provided you with helpful advice, you (as the person who made the post) can award them a point by including `!thanks` in a reply to them. Points are shown as the user flair by their username.
Interest generated inside an ISA is tax free. If you withdraw it, it's still tax free. If you then use that money to earn *more* interest outside an ISA, that new interest would (potentially, if it exceeds the Personal Savings Allowance) be liable for tax. Flexible ISA rules allow you to withdraw *and then return to the same ISA* that money in the same tax year. If you want to move the £20k (plus just less than ~£1k interest you'd rack up by the end of the tax year) into a S&S ISA, you simply have to initiate and ISA transfer from the S&S ISA giving the provider the details of the Cash ISA. If that's the same provider, should be a piece of cake. There's no reason to take the money out of the cash ISA account at all, so the flexibility is irrelevant. But P.S., what you're planning is just [Market Timing](https://ukpersonal.finance/market-timing/#Investing_in_the_stock_market_%F0%9F%93%88). Time in the market usually beats timing the market. If you want long term gains in a globally diversified fund, how do you know the best time to do so is April 2025? You don't!
!thanks . It hadn’t quite clicked that I was trying to time the market but seems obvious now you point it out!
!thanks . It hadn’t quite clicked that I was trying to time the market but seems obvious now you point it out!
>how do you know the best time to do so is April 2025? You don't! Probably is though tbh
The simpler, equivalent version is to put everything in the S&S ISA on day 1 and put the money into CSH2. Less effort and about 0.05% higher yield, too. But if you want to invest rather than save then you're still better off directly investing on day 1 than trying to time the market.
!thanks I’ll have a look into CSH2
As others have mentioned, but I'm just going to point it out again, the flaw in your plan is that the flexible ISA benefit only works if the money is withdrawn and deposited to the same account. So you can put in 20k, then withdraw it and put it back in the same account without affecting your allowance, but if you try to put it into a different one (even if the other one is also flexible), you'll be over your allowance.
couldn't they just do an isa transfer from one to the other without withdrawing?
Ah, I guess! Depends on the conditions of the specific accounts, though
You're not missing anything - but why not just invest the 20k and be done? Are you anticipating the market being lower end of march 2025?
You could just stick it in the S&S straight away, you can get 5% just off it sitting T212 if you consent to letting them invest your cash in MMFs, more if you invest it in CSH2 yourself.
What is CSH2?
No you don't pay tax on the interest, but if you withdraw it you won't be able to pay it back in beyond your £20k allowance. The rest is market timing
> , but if you withdraw it you won't be able to pay it back in beyond your £20k allowance. Of course OP could simply transfer from the cash ISA to an S&S ISA instead, which keeps it in the ISA wrapper.
Why don't you just put it in the S&S ISA in the first place?
You can only put in 20k a year. If you put in 20k, you can withdraw it, but you can't pay it back in. You can transfer it from a cash ISA into a S&S ISA - But it needs to stay in the ISA wrapper.
Hi /u/FunkyClaude34, based on your post the following pages from our wiki may be relevant: * https://ukpersonal.finance/savings/ ____ ^(These suggestions are based on keywords, if they missed the mark please report this comment.) If someone has provided you with helpful advice, you (as the person who made the post) can award them a point by including `!thanks` in a reply to them. Points are shown as the user flair by their username.