How Much Can I Put in an ISA Each Year? UK Limits Explained

In the 2026-27 tax year (6 April to 5 April), gov.uk says the most you can save across ISAs is £20,000. It can go in one account or be split across several, and a Lifetime ISA can take at most £4,000 of it. gov.uk's pages read for this guide do not describe a carry forward, so this guide does not assume that an unused part is added to a later year.

The site's rules data was last checked against gov.uk on 26 September 2026. Figures typed in this guide may not yet reflect a later change, and the descriptions of gov.uk pages are summaries that may also lag. The current figures are on the ISA rules at a glance page. General information only, not financial advice.

What is the annual ISA allowance?

The GOV.UK page on Individual Savings Accounts says that in the 2026-27 tax year the maximum you can save in ISAs is £20,000. The GOV.UK page on how ISAs work says that every tax year you can save up to that amount in one account or split the allowance across multiple accounts, and that the tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. For the current limits and dates in one place, see ISA rules at a glance.

The four ISA types gov.uk lists for adults are:

Cash ISA
Stocks and Shares ISA
Innovative Finance ISA
Lifetime ISA (LISA)

The combined total paid into them must not exceed the allowance. Because the pages read do not describe a carry forward, if a person pays in £7,000 in a tax year this guide does not assume that the remaining £13,000 is added to the next year's allowance.

Who can pay into an ISA?

The GOV.UK page on Individual Savings Accounts says you must be 18 or over to open an ISA, and either resident in the UK or a member of the armed forces or a Crown servant (or their spouse or civil partner) if you do not live in the UK. It also says you cannot hold an ISA with someone else, and that to open a Lifetime ISA you must also be under 40.

How do transfers relate to the allowance?

The GOV.UK page on transferring your ISA says to contact the ISA provider you want to move to and fill out an ISA transfer form, and that if you take the money out without doing this you will not be able to reinvest that part of your tax-free allowance again. The page says the investment can have been made this year or in previous years, and it does not say how a transfer is counted against the year's allowance, so ask both providers. Our guide to how to transfer ISA accounts covers the process step by step.

How does the Lifetime ISA fit into the allowance?

The GOV.UK Lifetime ISA guide says you can put in up to £4,000 each year, until you are 50, and that the government adds a 25% bonus to your savings, up to a maximum of £1,000 a year. It also says the Lifetime ISA limit counts towards your annual ISA limit. The £4,000 LISA limit therefore counts within the overall £20,000, not on top of it. As an example, if a person pays £2,800 into a LISA, the overall allowance leaves £20,000 minus £2,800, which is £17,200, for other ISAs that tax year. The bonus does not count as a payment in this example.

A Lifetime ISA can be opened from age 18 up to age 39. The gov.uk guide describes a withdrawal charge of 25% if you withdraw cash or assets for any reason other than buying a first home, from age 60 or terminal illness, and says it applies to the total amount in the ISA including the government bonus, so it can be more than the bonus.

Our guide to Lifetime ISA contribution limits covers the LISA rules in more detail, and the Lifetime ISA calculator shows how the bonus and a growth assumption affect a balance. For a first home, see ISA rules for first-time buyers.

Can more than one ISA of the same type be used in a year?

The how ISAs work page says you can save up to the allowance in one account or split it across multiple accounts, and gives an example of money split between two cash ISAs and a stocks and shares ISA in one tax year. The site's rules data dates this from 6 April 2024; the page read does not give that date. The same page says you can only pay into one Lifetime ISA in a tax year. For the rules by ISA type, see how many ISAs can I have.

What is the new cash ISA limit?

The GOV.UK policy paper on the cash ISA limit reduction says the annual cash ISA subscription limit will be reduced to £12,000 for individuals under 65, with effect from April 2027, that for investors aged 65 or over the cash limit stays at the overall limit, and that the overall ISA subscription limit is retained. It says the change may lead individuals to allocate a greater proportion of their ISA savings to stocks and shares ISAs. Regulations made on 10 September 2026 (SI 2026/1018, regulation 6, read on legislation.gov.uk on 6 October 2026) set the separate cash limit for savers aged 64 or under at the end of the tax year. It is announced and made in law, and it is not yet in force. HMRC's tax-free savings newsletter 19 says the overall ISA limit, the Lifetime ISA limit and the Junior ISA limit will stay unchanged until April 2031.

Until the new cash limit starts, the policy paper says the current rules provide a single overall annual ISA subscription limit with no separate cash limit. The Cash ISA calculator page sets out the current limits and dates. For the two main types side by side, see Cash ISA vs Stocks and Shares ISA, and for the change in detail see our guide to the cash ISA limit from April 2027.

How could an allowance be split?

This is an illustration of one way the arithmetic could work, not a suggestion. A saver pays in £2,800 to a Lifetime ISA, £6,000 to a Cash ISA and £8,000 to a Stocks and Shares ISA in one tax year. The total paid in is £16,800, which leaves £20,000 minus £16,800, or £3,200, unused. The goals each ISA type might serve, such as a first home, an emergency fund or long-term investing, are the saver's own. For another worked split, see how to split your ISA allowance between cash and stocks and shares.

Is there a separate allowance for Junior ISAs?

The GOV.UK page on Junior ISAs gives a Junior ISA savings limit of £9,000 for the 2026-27 tax year. gov.uk gives this limit separately from the adult limit and the pages read do not say that payments to a child's Junior ISA reduce an adult's own allowance, so this guide treats them as separate. The same page says parents or guardians with parental responsibility can open a Junior ISA, that a child can have one or both types of Junior ISA, that the child can take control of the account at 16, and that they cannot withdraw the money until they turn 18. Our Junior ISA allowance guide has more.

A worked example: one tax year of payments

Sarah is a 32-year-old first-time buyer. The amounts are assumptions for the arithmetic.

LISA payment: £2,800. The 25% bonus adds £700, so the LISA receives £3,500.
Cash ISA: £6,000.
Stocks and Shares ISA: £8,000.

Total paid in by Sarah: £16,800. Including the LISA bonus: £17,500.

Over five years, assuming the same payments each year and no growth, for simplicity, Sarah would have paid in £84,000 and received £3,500 in LISA bonuses, which comes to £87,500 in all. gov.uk says you do not pay tax on interest on cash in an ISA, or on income or capital gains from investments in an ISA.

The example shows how the split between ISA types uses the allowance. It is not a suggestion about how to split an allowance. The ISA calculator models scenarios with figures you enter.

What does the ISA allowance not cover or guarantee?

ISAs do not protect against investment losses. If the market falls, the value of a Stocks and Shares ISA can go down. The tax-free treatment applies to income and gains, not to the value of the capital.
Cash ISA rates are not guaranteed. A variable rate can be reduced by the provider.
The allowance can change. HMRC's newsletter says the overall limit stays unchanged until April 2031; the page does not say what applies afterwards.
The LISA withdrawal charge can reduce savings. Because it applies to the total amount including the bonus, a person could receive less than they paid in.
Withdrawing does not always restore the allowance. The GOV.UK page on withdrawing your money says a flexible ISA lets you take out cash and put it back in the same tax year without reducing your current year's allowance, and that the provider can say whether an ISA is flexible. For a non-flexible ISA, HMRC's guidance says the amount subscribed is not reduced by a later withdrawal.
The allowance covers ISAs only. gov.uk lists four types of ISA. An account that is not one of them, such as an ordinary savings account, is outside the ISA allowance and ISA tax treatment; the pages read do not name other products.
There is no household allowance on the site's own reading. On the site's own reading of gov.uk's wording, each adult has their own £20,000; gov.uk does not say "one allowance per person" in those words. This guide does not assume that one partner's unused allowance can be passed to the other. The exception is on death: a surviving spouse or civil partner can add an amount to their own allowance, as the GOV.UK page on inheriting an ISA describes. See our guide to inheriting an ISA.

What happens if too much is paid in?

HMRC's guidance for ISA providers sets out how an over-subscription is put right, a process it calls a "repair". The quoted phrases below are from the GOV.UK guidance on managing ISA subscriptions and the GOV.UK guidance on closing, voiding or repairing an ISA.

Excess paid in this tax year. Where a provider identifies invalid subscriptions because the overall limit has been exceeded in the current year, the guidance says "the excess and any related gains will be removed to correct the error".
Excess spread across several providers. The guidance says managers "do not need to establish the amount subscribed to ISAs held with other managers", and that investors with ISAs at different managers need to stay within the overall limit themselves.
Excess paid in an earlier tax year. The repair guidance says a repair should not be made without a notice of discovery, which HMRC issues after first writing to the investor.
Tax on the excess. The repair guidance says all tax relief (Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax) for current and previous year oversubscriptions will be lost up to the date of HMRC's repair letter, so interest or gains on the extra money can be taxed.
If a Lifetime ISA is also held. Where the overall limit is exceeded but the Lifetime ISA limit is not, the guidance says "the excess must be removed from accounts which are not Lifetime ISAs in date order". For an excess paid into a Lifetime ISA in an earlier year, the guidance says the manager must contact HMRC. The pages read do not say what happens to a bonus in that case, so this guide does not state it.
Non-flexible ISAs. The guidance says the amount subscribed is not reduced if an investor makes a subsequent withdrawal, so a withdrawal does not undo an over-subscription.

The ISA Allowance Checker keeps a running total of payments against the allowance for this tax year.

What are the common pitfalls?

Exceeding the allowance. Paying more than £20,000 in total across all ISAs in a tax year. The guidance above sets out how an excess is put right.
The tax year end. The allowance resets on 6 April. After 5 April the allowance for that year has ended, and this guide does not assume that an unused part is added to a later year.
Withdrawing instead of transferring. gov.uk says money you take out without a transfer cannot have that part of your tax-free allowance reinvested, unless the ISA is flexible.
Not reading the access rules. A Lifetime ISA has a withdrawal charge for reasons other than those gov.uk lists, so its rules are worth reading before paying in.

What does a multi-year illustration look like?

The allowance is set for each tax year, but projections can run over many years. As an illustration only, paying £300 a month into a Stocks and Shares ISA for 20 years, with each payment made at the end of the month and an assumed 5% annual growth rate compounded monthly, would give a pot of about £123,000, of which £72,000 is paid in. This is not a forecast: growth is not guaranteed, and values can fall as well as rise. gov.uk says you do not pay tax on income or capital gains from investments in an ISA.

The Advanced ISA Planner models multiple ISA types, varying contributions and different growth rates over many years.

What to check

These are points that people often look at when working out where they stand against the rules in this guide:

How much has been paid in this tax year. Provider statements or online accounts show the payments across all accounts.
The remaining allowance. It is £20,000 minus the total paid in. The ISA Allowance Checker shows the monthly amount that would be needed to use it before 5 April.
How the allowance is split. The split between ISA types depends on a person's own goals and circumstances.
Whether an ISA is flexible. The provider says whether an account is flexible.
Regular payments. A regular payment is one way to pay in, set up with the provider.
Lifetime ISA eligibility. A Lifetime ISA can only be opened by someone under 40, and it has withdrawal rules.
Projections. A free ISA calculator shows how payments could grow under the return assumptions entered. The results are illustrations, not forecasts.
Timing of payments. A payment close to 5 April may be treated by a provider as made in a different tax year if it arrives late, and the provider can say how it treats such payments.
Interest outside an ISA. Interest on savings outside an ISA may be taxable depending on income, as described in is ISA interest taxable?
The tax year end. The tax year ends on 5 April 2027 for 2026-27.

This guide sets out the rules, including the £20,000 annual limit, the LISA's £4,000 sub-limit, and the effect of timing and flexibility. It does not recommend any course of action for an individual.

Frequently asked questions

How much can I put in ISAs in the 2026-27 tax year?

gov.uk says the most you can save across ISAs is £20,000, in one account or split across multiple accounts. The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April.

Does an unused ISA allowance carry forward?

The gov.uk pages read for this guide do not describe a carry forward, so this guide does not assume that an unused part of the allowance is added to a later tax year.

Is the Lifetime ISA limit separate from the overall ISA allowance?

No. gov.uk says the Lifetime ISA limit of £4,000 counts towards the annual ISA limit of £20,000, so it is part of the overall allowance.

Can I put money back in if I withdraw it from an ISA?

Only in the same tax year and only if the ISA is flexible, according to gov.uk. A flexible ISA allows cash to be taken out and put back without reducing the current year's allowance, and the provider can say whether an ISA is flexible.

This guide does not constitute financial advice. Your personal situation, tax position, and savings goals may mean different strategies are appropriate. Consider speaking to a regulated financial adviser if you are uncertain.