ISA reforms to allow customers to “mix and match”
August 7, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Banking
Proposed government reforms to ISAs will encourage more people to save, financial experts said today.
A director at Tax Incentivised Savings Association (TISA), a trade association representing the financial services industry, added that customers would now be able to “mix and match” their ISAs, under the reforms announced last month.
The government will set new limits for cash ISAs at £3,600 and stocks and shares ISAs at £7,200, effective from next April.
Peter Shipp, technical director of TISA, said: “If [customers] have a cash ISA with the bank or building society and they have a stocks and shares ISA with another firm, they can mix and match as long as they don’t go over £7,200 overall.”
He recommended that savers take out ISAs, as they “encourage…people to save” and that people “will get their interest without a deduction of tax” by using them, unlike ordinary savings accounts which deduct the basic rate.
Stocks and shares ISAs were also a good way of avoiding capital gains tax if shares go up, he added.
Around 18 million Britons currently hold ISAs, with Mr Shipp confirming that latest statistics showed uptake levels at their “highest ever”.
