Tax-wrapped UK Treasury bills are here 🌯

Freetrade Chat đŸ”„
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We’re making a few changes to how you can buy UK Treasury bills. Make sure you’re on the latest version of your Freetrade app to enjoy!

Treasury bills, but tax-efficient.

Get all the benefits of these government-backed, low-risk instruments, but within a tax wrapper! You can now buy UK Treasury bills in an ISA, meaning any income earned from them will not be subject to UK income tax.

Remember, tax rules are subject to change. We do not provide tax advice and your tax position will depend on your personal circumstances. If you need to understand your own tax position you should speak to a financial or tax adviser.

NewtreasuryappISA

Buy directly in your GIA or ISA

You no longer need to navigate to a Treasury-specific area within your app. You can now buy UK Treasury bills directly within your GIA or ISA, where you would any other eligible instrument.

The weekly tender process remains the same - so be sure to get your orders in by 9 PM Thursday each week.

What does this mean for any existing UK Treasury bills I hold?

Starting from mid-June, as and when your UK Treasury bills mature they’ll automatically be moved into your GIA. If you’ve chosen to reinvest on maturity and buy more UK Treasury bills, you’ll find these new UK Treasury bills in your GIA. If you’ve chosen to cash out on maturity, the cash will also appear in your GIA.

You won’t be able to transfer any existing Treasury bills directly into your ISA, but you can start buying new Treasury bills in your ISA at any time.

Eventually, we’ll close the separate Treasury section of your app altogether. We’ll let you know before this happens and any cash left will be moved to your GIA.

When you invest, your capital is at risk. The value of your investments can go down as well
as up and you may get back less than you invest.

Freetrade does not give investment advice and you are responsible for making your own
investment decisions. If you are unsure about what is right for you, you should seek
independent advice.

Treasury rate subject to success in tender. Fixed term investment of 1 month, typically 28 days. However, your money could be tied up for 31 days or more.

ISA eligibility rules apply. Tax treatment depends on personal circumstances and current rules may change.

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Accepting to the Google Play store I’m on the latest version of the app which was updated today, however I’m unable to find the treasury bills in the ISA section. Is the update only partially rolled out?

Edit: I was searching in the discover tab, might be worth asking a pointer for variations of UK treasury bills being searched for and pointing people to where you can find them rather than the not there why not suggest them message?

I only found them due to the screenshot in the post below.

Great to see that they are now available in the ISA.

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Great news, well done team :freetrade:

Just roll out the SIPP next yeah (demanding aren’t I?!)

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I got my update this afternoon.
Version 1.0.45494
Google phase their rollouts, so you should probably get it soon!

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Seems to be in the portfolio tab. I was searching in discover and they weren’t coming up.

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Did the same so you arent alone lol.

Also
its great FT have given people more options.

Id like the option to hide the treasury tab
as its messing with the Feng Shui of my portfolio page! :rofl:

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Great to see this as an option in the ISA. I’m still interested to understand if or when fees will be introduced, as the info states fees will apply from April.

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What happenes to the cash when a treasury bill matures and you don’t want to reinvest it?
Dora it remain cash in your isa?
Then can you buy stocks and shares with it?
Or is it in a cash only isa?

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The monthly return is under 0.4%, the time horizon will have to be quite a long one to make investment sense. Also, I read that it may take up to 1 month after the maturity date for the cash to be available in the account.

Then again, monthly bonds and weekly tenders will allow me to safely flex as much as I want and I need to. And this is a winner for me.

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Sorry for the confusion here @smsm1; they will be enabled in search/Discover by the end of the week once we’ve got majority adoption of the latest app version

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Hi @NeilR - I can confirm that we will charge for Treasury product usage in future - either through inclusion in a subscription plan or a Basic custody fee - but the original April introduction date should have been removed from the site (I’ll follow up on this). Rest assured that we’ll let you know in good time ahead of any changes to the fee structure, and charges will apply going forwards as opposed to being backdated against existing holdings.

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You’re free to take any action you’d like with your ISA cash at maturity; including buying stocks and shares, as you mention :slight_smile:

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Hi @Simon3 - regarding this part:

Your cash is immediately credited to your account at maturity; initially as unsettled, but then settling and available to withdraw a few days later.

In a normal maturity cycle (assuming no bank holidays) we will grant the unsettled cash at maturity to your account on Thursday evening and automatically queue any reinvestment you’ve chosen to make for Friday’s tender.

Any unsettled cash that you’ve chosen not to reinvest will settle on the Monday. Any bank holidays either side of that weekend could prolong this process by day.

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I hope treasury fee is an add on to the currentl plan for those that wont be using it

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Thanks for clarifying those points, still getting my head around gilts :+1:

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I am an iPhone user, and still cannot see how to order these investments.

I have checked in the App store and am using the most recent version.

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@DavidR98 On your portfolio screen for your GIA or ISA just above the list of holdings you should see two tabs for “Shares” and “Treasury”. If you click on Treasury and you don’t yet own any Treasury bills, it will give you the option to add money for this week’s auction.

Let me know if you can’t see those two tabs and I’ll follow-up with other trouble shooting options if needed.

Alex

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Thanks Alex.

No, I don’t see those tabs. Under the total and the graph I see the heading “Investments” and then the list of holdings. No option to add money for the auction, no tabs.

This in on an iPhone, and I did visit the App store to see if there were any updates.

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Hey @DavidR98 I sent you a DM for some more details.

Thanks!

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They’re here! Well done, Freetrade!

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