An ISA is an Individual Savings Account and is not a product in its own right. An ISA is a ‘wrapper’ in which you can shelter savings and investments from tax. There are multiple types of ISA available; a cash ISA, a stocks and shares ISA, an Innovative Finance ISA, a Lifetime ISA and a Help To Buy ISA. The Junior ISA is available to those under 18.
You can put money into an ISA, up to a set limit each tax year. This limit is known as your ‘ISA allowance’. Any returns or gains made from money placed in an ISA are not subject to income and capital gains tax. You don’t even need to declare ISAs on your tax return.
The IFISA allows individuals to use their annual ISA allowance to lend funds through investments such as loan based crowdfunding or Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending and crowdfunded debt securities.
PLEASE REMEMBER, REGARDLESS OF THE TAX BENEFITS, CAPITAL IS AT RISK
Whether investments are held within a IFISA or in a general account, they are not covered by the FSCS; the government backed deposit insurance scheme that protects bank deposits including Cash ISAs. The tax benefits available in an IFISA are subject to status and your capital is at risk. The tax benefits of an IFISA are also subject to change by the government.