Tax year end & Lifetime ISAs: what you need to know

The tax year is almost over and you know what that means, right??

You’ve only got until the start of April to bag as much of the Lifetime ISA bonus (that's free money from the government towards your first home, btw) as you can for the current tax year.

What does it mean for you? Basically, if you don't open a Lifetime ISA until the new tax year begins, or you don't top yours up with any cash you wanted to put in before 5pm on the 3rd April (our tax year end deadline), you'll have missed out on this year's free money...

So, here's what you need to know...

🏡 You can put up to £4,000 into your Lifetime ISA during each tax year, and get up to £1,000 in bonuses.

💰 That’s a 25% bonus (hello, free money!) on top of what you’ve put in.

🙌 If you can't max it out before the tax year end, that's ok  – you'll get 25% from the government on top of whatever you put in, even if it's less than the full £4,000.

🚩 This year's allowance doesn’t cross over. So if you put £3,000 into your LISA this tax year, you can’t put £5,000 into your LISA next tax year.

⏰ You have until 5pm on the 3rd April 2023 to add money to a Nude Lifetime ISA via the one-off contribution feature for it to be processed by tax year end.

🔃 Or, if you'd rather add money to your Lifetime ISA via monthly direct debit, the 1st April is the last direct debit collection date for this tax year. You've got until 27th March 2023 (or 28th March 2023 if you're already a customer) to edit the amount, date, or set up a brand new direct debit for the 1st April direct debit collection. Missed the deadline? Use top-ups instead all the way up until the 3rd April to make your final contributions of the tax year.

🚨 Although the tax year doesn't technically end until the 5th April, our 3rd April deadline means we can make sure we have time to process & log your payments for this tax year. We're really sorry, but because of operational processes we have in place, payments made after 5pm on the 3rd April won't be processed before tax year end.

👀 The £4,000 allowance and the 25% bonus will be the same in the new tax year (6th April 2023 - 5th April 2024) so this isn't your last chance to open a Lifetime ISA or get any bonus, like, ever. It's just your last chance to make the most of the current tax year's allowances and bonuses.

🚨 Remember, your Lifetime ISA's £4,000 annual allowance is part of your overall individual £20,000 maximum annual ISA allowance. What does that mean? It only applies if you've contributed to other ISA types in the same tax year (like a stocks & shares ISA, a Help to Buy ISA, or a regular ISA) and if that's the case, then you have to factor all of those in and not contribute more than £20,000 per year across all those ISAs 🚨

What to do if you're not a Nude customer yet...

If you have some spare cash to pay in (we realise the cost of living crisis is biting hard atm, so we totally understand if this is a no-can-do), now could be a really great time to set up a Lifetime ISA.

Just download the Nude app, pick the type of Lifetime ISA you want to use to build your deposit with, and set up your direct debit or pay in a one-off contribution to make the most of this year's bonus.

The remaining collection date you can select before tax year end for the money to come out via direct debit is 1st April.

Don't worry if you don't want to stick with that amount or that date every month – we'll remind you before the following one comes out so you have time to increase, decrease or skip it.

And remember – you don't have to wait for your first direct debit to land to use our one-off contribution feature. Once you've set up that direct debit, top-ups will be instantly unlocked. The deadline for one off contributions for tax year end is 5pm on 3rd April.

What to do if you're a Nude customer already (hey!)...

If you want to top-up your Lifetime ISA before tax year end, that's great! Remember, you can only put in the remainder of your £4,000 annual allowance. Here's what you'll need to do...

If you already have an active Lifetime ISA and wanna make one last payment before tax year end, just head to the app and use our ✨ one-off contributions ✨ feature anytime until 5pm on the 3rd April. You'll find that in your Account tab.

Oh, and the bonus?

As long as you have paid into your Lifetime ISA by 5pm on the 3rd April 2023 you'll get the 25% bonus you're due on what you put in for the 2022-2023 tax year.

Remember, the bonus payments can take 4-6 weeks to land in your account after you make your contribution (so it might still be winging its way over to you in the new tax year) but as long as you have made that last tax year payment by 5pm on the 3rd April 2023, you're all good. Even if the bonus lands in the new tax year.

The government will know (and so will we!) that the incoming bonus payment was for your pre-tax year end payment, and it won't affect your allowance when it renews: you'll still have the full £1,000 bonus available to claim for the 2023-2024 tax year when April 6th swings around.

Then what happens on April 6th?

The reset button gets hit on those allowances! You can add up to £4,000 more into your Lifetime ISA, and the bonus amount that you can get resets back to £1,000 too.

These new allowances then last until April 6th 2024, when the next tax year begins, and the dance starts alllll over again. This all happens automatically btw, and you don't need to do a thing.

Still got questions?

If you read this and the whole time were thinking 'Wait, who the hell is LISA?' then read our guide to Lifetime ISAs.

If you want to know the ins-and-outs of our Lifetime ISAs, head to this page that breaks down how they work.

Download our app here for your Android or Apple phone.