Katie Horne, banks relationship manager at Flagstone, said: “The news that HMRC plans to impose a tax on the cash held in savers’ Stocks and Shares ISAs will come as a blow to many savers, from young people just starting to save, to retirees who have used the tax-free element of these instruments to supplement their pensions.
“Measures like this curtail the freedom savers have to make the sorts of savings and investment decisions that suit their own individual needs. For many, the decision to keep cash in a Stocks & Shares ISA is a temporary one, or one that’s made to suit a very specific set of personal requirements.
“Likewise, moving funds from a Stocks & Shares ISA into a Cash ISA product is a well-worn process that thousands of ISA savers use to de-risk at points in their lives when certainty over the value of their funds is essential.
“Any added complications to the taxation element of investing in stocks and shares ISAs may have the unintended consequence of penalising those savers who don’t have access to financial advice and potentially discourage the very savings culture the government is trying to encourage.
“The forthcoming reduction to the Cash ISA allowance adds an additional layer of complication, the effects of which are still unknown.”
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