Overdone the ISA

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Four Cofffee

Original Poster:

11,827 posts

241 months

Sunday 4th April 2010
quotequote all
I think I have cocked up on my ISA allowances.

I put the £3600 ino a cash ISA with Santander last A[pril, and the same in Shares with an investment company. Having had a discussion that I still have some allowances and put another £3600 in shares a few days ago with a different company.

I am sssuming that I have broken the 'rules' and that at some point that HMRC will notice and insist it be tranferred out of the second wrapper?

Is it easier for me to try and undo this or sit tight?

mrmr96

13,736 posts

210 months

Sunday 4th April 2010
quotequote all
I don't think they will notice. If you do a tax return then you should compensate for it on there. If you rely on PAYE then I wouldn't worry about it too much. It is technically wrong and you should do a tax return to compensate though.

sinizter

3,348 posts

192 months

Sunday 4th April 2010
quotequote all
My friend did this last year. He called up HMRC or they wrote to him - They said as this is a mistake on this occasional we will let it be. Don't do it again.

Maxf

8,420 posts

247 months

Sunday 4th April 2010
quotequote all
A friend opened a second ISA by accident a few years ago - nobody ever noticed and he still has it, ticking up interest!

Gareth79

7,964 posts

252 months

Monday 5th April 2010
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I've heard the opposite, that people accidentally broke the rules and got a letter from HMRC telling them off. I assume they get notified of ISA activity in some way and therefore it would be simple for them to spot a problem.

cannedheat

950 posts

281 months

Monday 5th April 2010
quotequote all
ISA providers send a report to the HMRC on an annual basis detailing what subscriptions have been logged against each national insurance number.

These reports are then fed into a computer which matches and flags those national insurance numbers which are in excess of the ISA limit.

HMRC then uses its discretion, in that those who have oversubbed by a little bit will be let off (possible upto £1-2k), whereas those who have oversubbed a lot will be required to correct their account/investment.

In the case of a large oversub, HMRC will usually contact the ISA provider and say that something needs to be done, the ISA provider will then contact you detailing your options. With an investment ISA, this will usually involve selling the share quantity purchased with the oversub, voiding the sub, correcting the tax position and then either sending the proceeds back to yourself or re-investing back into a non-ISA taxed investment account.

Some people might get off large oversubs because the ISA provider doesn't have their correct national insurance number. If you dont provide your NI number on the original app, quite a few companies will use a temporary number such as 'xx999999x'. If this number is never updated then your subs can't be correctly reported.....

Four Cofffee

Original Poster:

11,827 posts

241 months

Tuesday 6th April 2010
quotequote all
cannedheat said:
ISA providers send a report to the HMRC on an annual basis detailing what subscriptions have been logged against each national insurance number.

These reports are then fed into a computer which matches and flags those national insurance numbers which are in excess of the ISA limit.

HMRC then uses its discretion, in that those who have oversubbed by a little bit will be let off (possible upto £1-2k), whereas those who have oversubbed a lot will be required to correct their account/investment.

In the case of a large oversub, HMRC will usually contact the ISA provider and say that something needs to be done, the ISA provider will then contact you detailing your options. With an investment ISA, this will usually involve selling the share quantity purchased with the oversub, voiding the sub, correcting the tax position and then either sending the proceeds back to yourself or re-investing back into a non-ISA taxed investment account.

Some people might get off large oversubs because the ISA provider doesn't have their correct national insurance number. If you dont provide your NI number on the original app, quite a few companies will use a temporary number such as 'xx999999x'. If this number is never updated then your subs can't be correctly reported.....
I may have an escape clause. My overspend was in stocks, not cash as I had thought, and may still be within my stocks allowance I guess the worst they can do is move it out of the wrapper. Buty they do have my NI number. In my defence I was nearly 50!

Edited by Four Cofffee on Tuesday 6th April 09:15