Fool's Eye View

[ April 3, 2000 ]

Practical Steps to taking out an ISA

By Jane Mack (TMFJane)

If you still haven't got around to sorting out your ISA for this tax year then you'd better get your skates on. You've got just two days to get your application in before the deadline of midnight, Wednesday 5th April.

Although some ISA funds have already closed the doors to applications, most will accept them by close of business on Wednesday and some are even staying open until midnight itself to ensure that you have every opportunity to submit your forms in time. Or should that be to ensure that they have every opportunity of garnering all your lovely dosh!

It's worth remembering that you can salt away up to £7,000 in cash, shares and insurance and any profits you make in subsequent years will be completely protected from Capital Gains Tax. However, if you don't use up your allowance for this year then the opportunity will be gone forever.

One reason why people have left it so late to apply is because the ISA is so marvelously complicated but, if you still haven't been able to get your head around the damn things, then you might find this Guide of some use.

If you want to be sure that your application gets in on time then you're cutting it a bit fine if you intend to use the post. At the very least it would be wise to pay a little extra and use the guaranteed next day delivery service. If you don't trust the post then some fund managers are setting up collection points around the country to enable you to drop off your form in person. These include Jupiter, Fidelity and Aberdeen who are using hotels in major cities as drop-off points while Virgin will allow you to take the forms to their megastores in London, Birmingham and Manchester.

If you can pay by debit card (credit cards cannot be used) then you could arrange for the forms to be faxed to you or even apply by phone. Some fund managers such as Fidelity and M & G will accept applications by phone right up to midnight on Wednesday though, if you're leaving it that late, then don't be surprised if you can't get through.

You can, of course, use the Internet too. Application forms can usually be found on the company website and, in theory, you can apply up to midnight on Wednesday though bear in mind that sending is not proof of receiving so applications which arrive after the deadline will be rejected.

Apart from meeting the deadline the most important thing is to check and re-check your application form, not to mention your method of payment, before sending it off. Forms that aren't signed or filled in properly are fairly common throughout the year but, at this stage, there simply won't be time to correct the problem.

Finally, as the different fund managers are all doing their own thing it's worth contacting the ones you are interested in to check what their own deadline is. You may find these links helpful:

http://www.find.co.uk/investments/IISA.html

http://www.moneyworld.co.uk/isas/isaproviders1.html

Part 1: ISAs: last chance saloon
Part 2: Practical Steps to taking out an ISA