Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs)

I am under 18 - can I have an ISA?

If you are aged 15 or under, you cannot have an ISA.

If you are aged 16 or 17, you can have a cash ISA. This can be either a Mini cash ISA or a Maxi ISA where you can only put money into the cash component. The subscription limits are the same as for savers who are over 18 (up to £3,000 in each tax year up to 2005-06 and then £1,000 a year after that).

Information about money given by parents.

If you have put money into a Mini cash ISA in the tax year in which you reach 18, you can go on doing so on and after your 18th birthday, subject to the normal limit. Once you have reached 18 you can also apply to open a Mini stocks and shares ISA (and if you are 18 before 5 April 2005, you can open a Mini insurance ISA). You will have to complete a new application in the same way as any other investor.

If you have been putting money into the cash component of a Maxi ISA in the tax year in which you reach 18, you can go on doing so on and after your 18th birthday, subject to the normal limit. Once you have reached 18, you can also put money into the stocks and shares component, and, if you are 18 before 5 April 2005, the insurance component of your Maxi ISA. As this is a Maxi ISA, you will not have to complete a new application.

You cannot put money into a Mini cash ISA and a Maxi ISA in the same tax year.