What's a Bed and ISA, and how do I do it?

If you hold funds in a General Account you could consider selling them and reinvesting the proceeds in an ISA. This process is a Bed and ISA. This means you're moving money from a taxed account to a more tax-efficient account. It's a good investment strategy if you aren't going to fund your ISA out of cash you hold elsewhere.

The benefit of doing a Bed and ISA is that you won't pay Capital Gains Tax on future gains your investments make. There won't be any personal income tax to pay either.

Remember - selling holdings in your General Account could trigger a capital gain or loss, and there may be tax to pay. However, if any gains you make are within your personal Capital Gains Tax allowance, you may not have any tax to pay. You can learn more about the Capital Gains Tax allowance on the HMRC website.

How do I do a Bed and ISA?

If you haven't already got an ISA:

1. From your General Account go to 'open new account' and follow the steps to open an ISA.
2. Add at least £1.
3. Sell holdings in your General Account (allow 2-3 business days for cash from the sale to appear in your account).
4. Move money to your ISA - follow the 'transfer cash' journey.

If you have a Vanguard ISA already and haven't reached your tax allowance:

You'll need available cash to transfer – you can sell your holdings by following the steps below.

To sell funds into cash to transfer

1. Go to 'Portfolio Options' in your account.
2. Click 'Sell' then choose your General Account
3. Click 'Sell' and choose to leave cash in your account.

If you already have cash in your General Account:

1. From your General Account under 'My Portfolio' Select 'Payments' on the left hand side
2. Then go to the 'Money Transfer' tab

Enter the account you'd like to transfer 'From' and 'To' and the amount of money to transfer and complete your transfer to an ISA.

If you’re aiming to use the current tax year’s ISA allowance, don’t leave your Bed and ISA till 5th April. Selling the existing funds in your General Account and transferring the proceeds to your Stocks and Shares ISA can take time, so it’s best to plan ahead.