Sometimes, having owned your Individual Savings Account (ISA) for a few years, you might notice that the underlying investments no longer give you what you need.

Alternatively, because your circumstances have changed, you might wish to switch to another ISA provider with a wider choice of funds. How can you shift your investment without jeopardising the tax benefits?

How can you shift your investment without jeopardising the tax benefits?

You can transfer the value of your ISA to a different manager whenever you like. Reforms to legislation have granted much greater flexibility to ISA savers: savings held within a stocks and shares ISA can be transferred to another stocks and shares ISA, or to a cash ISA, and vice versa. Once you have decided on your course of action, you must enact an official transfer using your new manager’s ‘Transfer Request Form’; closing one ISA and reinvesting the proceeds into another is viewed as a withdrawal and, once you withdraw, you lose all tax benefits on the money removed.

Although transferring is a relatively straightforward process, it is important to remember that any investment – particularly in shares – is likely to be for the long term. Consequently, you need to be sure your existing investment is really not right for you, rather than switching just because of a short-term downturn in markets.

Before shifting your portfolio, remember any transfer will incur charges that will need to be weighed up against the potential benefits, so do make sure you seek expert advice first.