ISA transfers in 2026: how they work
Moving an ISA from one provider to another is one of the simplest ways to cut what you pay or improve what you can invest in, and it is far easier than most people expect. You keep the tax-free wrapper, you keep your allowance, and in most cases you do very little beyond filling in one form.
The single rule that matters is this: never withdraw the money yourself. Use the formal transfer process and your ISA keeps its tax-free status. Take the cash out and pay it in elsewhere and, as GOV.UK puts it, you will not be able to reinvest that part of your tax-free allowance again.
This guide covers the rules as they stand for the 2026/27 tax year: full and partial transfers, how current year money is treated, how long each type takes, what it costs, and the handful of mistakes that actually matter.
The information provided on this page and throughout the website is for general information purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. It is important that you conduct your own research and consider your own personal circumstances before making any investment decisions.
What you can and cannot transfer
There are four types of ISA, and you can transfer between most of them in either direction. Here is what each one is for:
Cash ISA
Savings held with a bank or building society, paying interest with no tax on it. Transfers between two cash ISAs are the quickest of all, and must complete within 15 working days.
Stocks and shares ISA
Shares, funds, ETFs, investment trusts and bonds, with no UK tax on income or gains. Transfers in or out of one of these take up to 30 calendar days.
Lifetime ISA
For first home purchase or retirement, with a 25% government bonus on up to £4,000 a year. Transfers have extra restrictions, and moving money out to a non-LISA before age 60 normally triggers a 25% withdrawal charge.
Innovative finance ISA
Peer to peer loans and similar. You can usually transfer cash out, but the underlying loans often cannot be moved, so check before you commit.
Two points do most of the work here. First, you can move between types freely: cash to stocks and shares, stocks and shares back to cash, in whichever direction suits you. Second, and the part most people get wrong, transferring does not use up any of your £20,000 annual allowance. Only new money counts as a subscription. If you transfer £40,000 built up over several years into a new provider, your full £20,000 allowance for this year is still untouched.
The Lifetime ISA is the exception worth flagging. Transferring a LISA to another LISA provider is fine. Transferring it to an ordinary ISA before 60 counts as a withdrawal and normally costs you 25% of the amount moved, which is more than the bonus you received. Junior ISAs also cannot be partially transferred, they move as a whole.
How to transfer an ISA, step by step
The whole process is run by the provider you are moving to. You do not contact your old provider, and you never touch the money.
That is the whole process. For most people it is one form and then a wait.
Five mistakes that actually cost you money
Most transfers go through without incident. These are the ones that do real damage:
1. Withdrawing instead of transferring. This is the only mistake you cannot undo. Take £30,000 out of an ISA and pay it into another one and you have not transferred anything, you have made a new subscription, and £20,000 is the most you are allowed. The rest loses its tax-free status permanently. Always use the receiving provider’s transfer form.
2. Breaking a fixed rate cash ISA early. Fixed rate deals usually charge an exit penalty of 90 to 180 days of interest. A better headline rate elsewhere can easily be wiped out by the penalty, so do the arithmetic on your actual balance before you move.
3. Selling down and sitting in cash. On a cash transfer of a stocks and shares ISA your investments are sold and you are out of the market until you buy back in. Over 15 to 30 days that is a real risk in either direction. An in specie transfer avoids it where the new provider supports one.
4. Not checking exit fees. Most platforms in our comparison charge nothing to transfer out, but not all. Saxo charges EUR 50 per line of stock, capped at EUR 160, and some providers charge per holding. Check before you start, not after.
5. Assuming your investments come with you. An in specie transfer only works if the receiving provider offers the same funds. Move from a full service platform to one with a narrow range and some holdings will have to be sold whether you like it or not.
Full transfers, partial transfers and current year money
- You can transfer all or part of an ISA, at any time, to the same type or a different type.
- Since April 2024 that includes money you have paid in during the current tax year, which previously had to move in full.
- Providers are not obliged to offer partial transfers, and many still ask for current year money to move as a whole. Check the receiving provider's form.
- Since April 2024 you can also pay into more than one ISA of the same type in the same tax year, within the £20,000 overall allowance.
- Junior ISAs cannot be partially transferred, and Lifetime ISA transfers out to a non-LISA normally cost 25% before age 60.
This is the area where published guidance disagrees most, so it is worth being precise. GOV.UK states that you can transfer all or part of your savings at any time, to the same or a different type of ISA, and that the money can have been paid in this year or in previous years. A number of comparison sites still say current year subscriptions must move in full. That was the rule before April 2024, and it now survives as provider policy rather than as an HMRC requirement. If a provider tells you the whole of this year’s money has to move, that is their rule, not the law, and another provider may take a partial transfer.
How long it takes and what it costs
Cash ISA to cash ISA: 15 working days maximum. In practice most complete inside a week, because the money moves electronically and there is nothing to sell.
Everything else: 30 calendar days maximum. That covers stocks and shares to stocks and shares, cash to stocks and shares and back again. In specie transfers sit at the slower end because each holding is re-registered individually, and a portfolio of a dozen funds can take the full month.
You keep the tax-free treatment throughout. Money in transit is still inside an ISA wrapper, so nothing becomes taxable while it is moving.
On cost, transferring in is free at every provider in our comparison, and most charge nothing to transfer out either. The exceptions are worth checking for: some platforms charge per line of stock to move holdings out, and fixed rate cash ISAs carry interest penalties for leaving early. Neither is a reason not to move, but both belong in the calculation.
What changes in April 2027
Two announced changes are worth planning around, because both make transferring into a stocks and shares ISA more attractive before they take effect.
From 6 April 2027 the annual cash ISA limit is set to fall to £12,000 for most people under 65, while the overall £20,000 ISA allowance stays as it is. The full £20,000 cash limit will apply from the start of the tax year in which you turn 65. The 2026/27 tax year is therefore the last in which someone under 65 can shelter the whole £20,000 in cash.
Separately, proposals announced in the November 2025 Budget would stop transfers from stocks and shares ISAs and innovative finance ISAs into cash ISAs from April 2027. If that takes effect as announced, moving investments back into cash inside an ISA would no longer be possible.
Both were announced rather than legislated at the time of writing, so confirm the position before acting on either.
The official rules are set out on GOV.UK: Transferring your ISA, which is the source to check if a provider tells you something that contradicts this guide.
Is it worth transferring?
Usually, yes, and the reason is almost always cost. Platform charges compound against your returns in exactly the way growth compounds in your favour. On a £50,000 portfolio the difference between 0.35% a year and a capped £42 is around £133 a year, and over a decade with growth that is a meaningful sum for one form.
Cost is not the only reason. Investment range matters if your current platform does not offer what you want to hold, and consolidation matters if you have ISAs scattered across three or four providers and no clear view of what you own.
What should not drive the decision is past performance. You are moving the wrapper, not buying a different set of returns, and last year’s winner tells you very little about next year.
If you are weighing up where to move to, our comparison of the best Stocks and Shares ISAs sets out what twelve UK providers charge, including which is cheapest at your portfolio size, and the best cash ISAs guide covers the savings side.
