An ISA transfer is the ability to move assets held with one ISA manager to another, keeping the investments within the tax-efficient wrapper. Brokers must allow a client to transfer their ISA freely, however, are not obliged to facilitate the transfer in every way possible (many, like Freetrade, offer just cash transfers out).

If the stocks in your existing ISA are in our universe, you can transfer them without selling. If not, you’ll need to sell them for cash. Then that cash can move over too in the same transfer.

Cash ISA – Up to 4 weeks generally.
Stocks and shares ISA – Up to 6 weeks generally.
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The time a transfer takes can vary from the above times, with various factors affecting the progress (sale instructions, broker working timeframes, conversations between broker and client to confirm information).

Shares can only be transferred into your ISA with Freetrade if they are currently held in an ISA elsewhere.
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When you instruct the transfer, we ask your current provider to send us a valuation of the assets you hold with them. Once this has been received, we will review what can and cannot be transferred to Freetrade. We will then contact you about anything you hold that may need to be sold and transferred as cash, rather than transferred as stock.

It may not be possible to transfer in certain non-UK securities depending on how these are held with your current ISA provider, due to ISA rules. We cannot currently accept transfers in of stocks listed on European exchanges. These positions will have to be sold and transferred as cash. With cash transfers, you are not invested, so may miss out on market ups and downs during your transfer.
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If applicable, sale instructions are made, and for instruments transferring in-specie (as stock, rather than cash), trade and settlement dates are requested. On the trade date, matching messages are sent between us and the other provider and the shares are transferred on the settlement date. Following settlement, any cash balances are sent to us, alongside completion documents. 

If you are transferring an ISA from previous years, you can partially transfer your holdings. Current year subscriptions are not able to be split, so it must be transferred in full.

No, transferring an ISA keeps investments in the tax wrapper, and so will not count further toward your allowance.

No, you cannot directly transfer your stocks and shares ISA to a SIPP. You could sell your ISA holdings and then buy them back in a SIPP, much like a bed and ISA.  

There is no ideal time to transfer an ISA. The end or beginning of a tax year may mean the process takes longer as more people are thinking about their ISAs at that time. But even this isn’t necessarily going to be a problem.

You can transfer your ISA as many times as you like — there are no limits. 

ISAs can be inherited by your spouse but you must have been married to them or in a civil partnership with them. This is done via an inherited ISA allowance.
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Your children can inherit your ISA holdings but the ISA will not retain its tax-efficient status if they do.
Inheritance tax is a complex subject and ISAs are no exception. If you are interested in learning more about the subject then it’s worth speaking to a financial advisor before you make any big decisions. Please remember tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may be subject to change in the future.

Yes, once you sell any shares you hold then you can withdraw the cash. But be careful here, when cash has been removed it cannot be put back into your ISA without counting further toward your annual ISA allowance. The Freetrade app makes it clear how much you’ve added to your ISA in the current tax year. Remember, it’s up to you to make sure you don’t exceed your allowance.

It’s free to transfer to Freetrade.

If you decide to leave Freetrade, you can transfer out UK or US securities as cash or stock. At the moment, to transfer any non-UK or non-US securities away from Freetrade, you will have to sell them first and transfer the amount as cash.  When you transfer as cash you’ll be out of the market, so you may miss out on the ups and downs during your transfer. 

Stocks can only be transferred as whole shares. If you wish to transfer a fraction of a share, you will have to sell it first and transfer the amount as cash. 

There is no fee to transfer out UK securities or cash. Transferring out US securities will incur a cost of £17 per holding. We charge this amount to cover the fee our service provider charges us.

Your new provider may not be able to accept transfers of all securities you hold with Freetrade. It’s worth checking if they can support your stocks before you start your transfer.

Your future broker can send an electronic transfer request to us at: transfers@freetrade.io.