I have a general account, Im thinking about getting the ISA at £3 to mitigate capital gains tax.
I already have 5 investments in my general account, what would happen to these stocks if I upgraded to the ISA, would I now have 2 accounts within the app I could switch between? and ISA and a GIA?
Am I right in understanding that my current investments could not be moved into the ISA, and I’d still need to pay capital gains tax?
If I sold my shares in the general investmnt account, would that money still sit in the general investment account and I would need to request it be moved into my ISA account?
When you open the ISA, yes, you will have two accounts, each account will appear on a separate ‘page’ in your app, and you can switch from one to the other with a little drop-down selector.
Yes, you are correct in understanding that you can’t just move assets from your general account to your ISA. You will need to sell them (thereby crystallising their value for capital gains tax purposes), deposit cash into your ISA (up to your annual limit), and then buy stocks inside your ISA. You can ask Freetrade’s customer service team to move cash from GIA to ISA or you can withdraw cash from GIA to your bank account and then deposit it to your ISA.
I could keep the investments in the GIA if i wanted, and then if I bought more shares of the same stock in my ISA, they would remain separate, e.g - 10 in GIA, 22 in ISA, so I wouldnt need to sell the stocks in the GIA right? and still be able to tell which are eligible for CGT?
Correct again. Your holdings in the ISA are distinct from your holdings in the GIA. You can hold shares in a company in both accounts and they are presented separately.
Using the figures in your example, when you’re looking at your GIA you would see 10 shares. When you’re looking at your ISA you would see 22 shares.
There is no combined view which would show the total 32 shares.