- Savers and investors have a fresh Isa allowance to use until 5 April 2026
While many investors were in meltdown after global markets tumbled on Friday, one Bestinvest customer had just one thing on their mind: their renewed Isa allowance.
As the clocks struck midnight on 5 April, marking the start of the new 2025-26 tax year, this client funded their stocks and shares Isa account.
They finished investing their full £20,000 annual Isa allowance by 12:11am on 6 April.
The £20,000 allowance is shared among cash Isas and stocks and shares Isas, as well as lifetime Isas which can use up to £4,000 of the allowance per year.
With personal tax allowances frozen until 2028, Isas have seen a surge in usage as the millions being dragged into higher tax bands look to shelter their savings from the taxman.
Other savers took a different approach, leaving their Isa allowances unused right up to the wire.
The investment provider saw its last Isa to be maxed out in the last financial year at 10:13pm on Saturday
Just 27 minutes before the first client filled their Isa, Bestinvest saw its final investment made at 11.44pm. Minutes before this, at 11:25pm, Bestinvest saw its last new Isa account of the 2024/2025 tax year opened.
The last Isa to be maxed out in the 2024-25 financial year was at 10:13pm on Saturday
Separate research has shown using the Isa allowance early, rather than leaving it to the last moment, can boost returns by up to £32,000 over a decade.
Alice Haine, personal finance analyst at Bestinvest by Evelyn Partners, said: ‘Making use of Isas to shelter savings and investment from taxation is vital now that the UK tax burden is estimated to be at the highest level since the Second World War.
‘The thresholds for paying the basic, higher and additional rates of tax remain frozen until at least 2028, dragging millions more taxpayers into higher rates of taxation as their income increases.’
Haine added: ‘While many may feel a sense of relief now that tax year end is over, saving into an Isa does not need to be left until the last minute.
‘With the annual dividend allowance standing at just £500, the capital gains tax exemption remaining at £3,000 and savings rates still on the higher side, taking advantage of the tax efficiency that comes with saving into an Isa remains important.’
The last weeks of the tax year, plagued not only by market turmoil in its last few days as a result of Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, also saw speculation that the Government would make changes to cash Isa allowances.
The Spring Statement confirmed that the Chancellor will consider making reforms to the allowances to strike a balance ‘between cash and equities’.
For now, however, Isa allowances remain unchanged.
Haine added: ‘Those who want to get ahead this tax year can open or top up their Isas now. Not only does investing earlier in the tax year remove some of the pressure to make a hasty decision; it also ensures your hard-earned cash gets put to work for longer.’
Recent data from St James’s Place reveals that the annual Isa allowance of £20,000, invested in global equities at the beginning of each tax year, would have amassed £338,333 from a £200,000 investment over the past ten years, compared to just £306,476 if invested at the end of each tax year.
Bestinvest said its own figures indicate the same.
Haine added: ‘That could have been the motivating factor for the Bestinvest client who opened a new Isa with us at 08.03am on Sunday morning.
‘Drip feeding your money into an Isa regularly, such as monthly, removes the emotion from investing: it is all too easy to have your investment decisions clouded by current market turmoil – events that will merely be blip for those investing for the long-term.’
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This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .