ISA allowance calculator
You can pay £20,000 into ISAs in the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027), all of it in cash if you like. From 6 April 2027, savers under 65 can put at most £12,000 of it into cash ISAs. A Lifetime ISA's £4,000 counts inside the £20,000.
Your result
- Used so far
- £10,000
- Cash ISA room
- £10,000
- Lifetime ISA room (£4,000 limit)
- £3,000
- Lifetime ISA bonus on this year's payments
- £250
- Days until the tax year ends (5 April)
- 165
- To use it all, put in each month
- £1,667
You can still put £10,000 into ISAs this tax year.
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How to use the ISA allowance calculator
- Choose the tax year: 2026/27 (now), or 2027/28 (new cash limit) to preview how the £12,000 limit would apply.
- Enter what you’ve paid in since 6 April 2026 under Cash ISA, Stocks and shares ISA, Lifetime ISA and Innovative finance ISA. Count new money only; savings from earlier years that you’ve moved between providers don’t count.
- If you’ve taken money out of a flexible ISA and can put it back, enter it under Taken out of a flexible ISA and allowed back in.
- In 2027/28 mode, switch on I’ll be over 65 if the cash limit won’t apply to you.
The result shows the allowance you have left, your room in cash and Lifetime ISAs, and the government bonus on this year’s Lifetime ISA payments. For 2026/27 it also counts the days to 5 April and works out a monthly amount that would use the rest.
How the numbers are worked out
Allowance left = £20,000 − (cash + stocks and shares + Lifetime ISA + innovative finance − flexible withdrawals you can put back)
The calculator starts with £6,000 in a cash ISA, £3,000 in stocks and shares and £1,000 in a Lifetime ISA. That’s £10,000 used and £10,000 left. The Lifetime ISA has £3,000 of room (£4,000 − £1,000), and the bonus on the £1,000 paid in is 25%, or £250. On 14 October 2026 there were 173 days to 5 April 2027, so the calculator spreads the £10,000 over six months: about £1,667 a month. (The countdown uses your device’s date.)
Switch to 2027/28 with the same amounts and the £10,000 left doesn’t change, but the cash room falls to £6,000: the £12,000 limit minus the £6,000 already in cash. Switch on the over-65 option and it goes back to £10,000.
The calculator doesn’t check payment dates or Junior ISAs, and it can’t apply rules that haven’t been published yet, such as the exact age test.
The 2026/27 allowance
The ISA allowance for the 2026/27 tax year is £20,000, and this year all of it can go into cash. You can split it across types and pay into more than one ISA of the same type: GOV.UK’s own example is £10,000 in one cash ISA, £3,000 in another and £7,000 in a stocks and shares ISA. The Lifetime ISA is the exception, with one a year and £4,000 at most. You have to be 18 or over and UK resident to open an ISA (and under 40 for a Lifetime ISA).
| Limit | 2026/27 | From 6 April 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| All your ISAs together | £20,000 | £20,000, fixed until 5 April 2031 |
| Cash ISAs, under 65 | Up to £20,000 | Up to £12,000 |
| Cash ISAs, over 65 | Up to £20,000 | Up to £20,000 |
| Lifetime ISA, inside the £20,000 | £4,000, plus a 25% bonus | £4,000, fixed until 5 April 2031 |
| Junior ISA, the child’s own | £9,000 per child | £9,000, fixed until 5 April 2031 |
The table comes from GOV.UK’s ISA, Lifetime ISA and Junior ISA guides and paragraph 2.3 of the Budget 2025 overview of tax legislation and rates.
What changes on 6 April 2027
Paragraph 2.3 of the Budget 2025 overview of tax legislation and rates sets an annual cash ISA limit of £12,000 within the £20,000, starting in April 2027 (6 April is the first day of the 2027/28 tax year). Savers over 65 can keep putting up to £20,000 a year into cash. The change will be made by regulations laid before Parliament ahead of April 2027. Those will set the exact age test, including what happens if you turn 65 part-way through a tax year, and they hadn’t been published when we wrote this page.
HM Treasury’s First Time Buyer ISA consultation (June 2026) describes two more rules. From 6 April 2027 you won’t be able to transfer money from a stocks and shares ISA or an innovative finance ISA into a cash ISA. Rules will also be needed to stop cash held inside other ISAs getting round the limit; the documents we read don’t set them out yet.
The limit applies to new payments, so cash already in an ISA can stay there. An under-65 who wants to use the whole £20,000 in 2027/28 will need at least £8,000 of it in other kinds of ISA, such as stocks and shares. Our guide to the £12,000 cash ISA limit covers who it affects.
The Lifetime ISA, and what may replace it
A Lifetime ISA can be opened from 18 to 39, and you can pay in up to £4,000 a year until you’re 50. The government adds 25%, up to £1,000 a year. The money is for a first home costing £450,000 or less, bought at least 12 months after your first payment, or for later life. Take it out before 60 for any other reason, unless you’re terminally ill, and there’s a 25% charge on the whole withdrawal, which takes back more than the bonus. From £5,000 (£4,000 of your money plus a £1,000 bonus), you’d get £3,750: £250 less than you put in.
HM Treasury consulted until 18 August 2026 on a First Time Buyer ISA for first-time buyers of any age, to be offered in place of the Lifetime ISA once it’s available. It’s a proposal, and the consultation doesn’t give a start date. It says existing Lifetime ISA holders could keep paying in under the current rules indefinitely, and that a cash version of the new account would count toward the £12,000 cash limit. Our guide to Lifetime ISA rules in 2026 covers the details.
Flexible ISAs and transfers
If your ISA is flexible, you can take money out and put it back in the same tax year without it counting twice. In GOV.UK’s example, you pay £10,000 in and take £3,000 out. With a flexible ISA you can still pay in £13,000 that year; with one that isn’t, £10,000. Your provider can tell you which kind you have. In the calculator, enter £10,000 under Cash ISA and £3,000 under Taken out of a flexible ISA and allowed back in, and it shows £13,000 left.
To move an ISA to another provider, use the new provider’s transfer form. GOV.UK warns that if you withdraw the money instead and pay it in yourself, you can’t reinvest that part of your tax-free allowance.
Three examples
Callum, 34, plans to pay £15,000 into cash ISAs in 2027/28. In 2027/28 mode the calculator warns that cash payments above £12,000 won’t be allowed, which leaves £3,000 to put somewhere else. He could keep £12,000 in a cash ISA and put the other £3,000 into a stocks and shares ISA or an ordinary savings account. As a basic-rate taxpayer, his Personal Savings Allowance covers £1,000 of interest a year, and £3,000 at an assumed 4% earns £120.
Margaret is 67 and wants all £20,000 in cash in 2027/28. With the over-65 switch on, the calculator shows £20,000 of cash room.
Zara is 29 and saving for her first flat. In 2026/27 she pays £4,000 into a Lifetime ISA, £6,000 into a cash ISA and £10,000 into stocks and shares. That’s the full £20,000, and the government adds a £1,000 bonus on top; the calculator shows nothing left and no warnings.
Scroll is education, not advice. Our lessons and calculators explain how money works in general. They don’t know your circumstances, so they can’t tell you what to do with yours. For that, speak to a qualified, regulated adviser in your country.
FAQ
ISA allowance calculator: common questions
What is the ISA allowance for 2026/27?
£20,000 for the tax year from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, across all your ISAs. You can put all of it in cash this year, split it between types, or pay into more than one ISA of the same type. A Lifetime ISA takes up to £4,000 of it; a child's Junior ISA has its own £9,000 limit.
What is changing to the cash ISA limit in 2027?
From 6 April 2027, savers under 65 can pay at most £12,000 a year into cash ISAs, inside the same £20,000 overall limit. The rest can go into other types, such as a stocks and shares ISA. HM Treasury says transfers from stocks and shares or innovative finance ISAs into cash ISAs will also stop from that date.
Does the £12,000 cash limit apply to over-65s?
No. Budget 2025 says savers over 65 can keep paying up to £20,000 a year into cash ISAs. How the rule works for someone who turns 65 during a tax year will be set in regulations, which hadn't been published when we wrote this page, so the calculator uses a simple over-65 switch.
Is a cash ISA still worth it with the Personal Savings Allowance?
It depends on your tax band and how much interest you earn outside ISAs. In 2026/27 the allowance covers £1,000 of interest a year for basic-rate taxpayers, £500 for higher-rate and nothing for additional-rate. Above it, savings interest is taxed at 20%, 40% or 45%, rising to 22%, 42% and 47% from 6 April 2027. At an assumed 4%, £12,500 earns £500 a year.
What is the junior ISA allowance?
£9,000 per child for 2026/27, and Budget 2025 keeps it there until 5 April 2031. The money belongs to the child, so it doesn't use a parent's £20,000. Parents or guardians open the account, the child can take control of it at 16, and the money can't be taken out until 18.
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Guides
- The cash ISA limit is dropping to £12,000. Who it affectsFrom 6 April 2027, savers under 65 can pay £12,000 a year into cash ISAs. Who's affected, worked £20,000 splits, and the Personal Savings Allowance compared.
- Lifetime ISA rules in 2026, and what may replace itLifetime ISA rules for 2026/27 from GOV.UK, the 25% withdrawal charge worked through, and what HM Treasury's June 2026 First Time Buyer ISA plan proposes.