Continuing ISA application forms
You will, of course, sign an ISA application form when you first open an ISA account; you cannot use your yearly ISA allowance and subscribe until you do so. Most ISA providers will make their ISA application forms “rolling”, or continuing application forms. This means that you do not need to sign a new ISA application form every year in which you wish to subscribe, as long as you do not miss making subscriptions for a full tax year.
Break in subscriptions
Rolling application forms remain valid until there is a break in your subscriptions. This means that if you subscribe every tax year, after signing the rolling application form, then that application remains valid and you will likely not need to sign another application in future years. But, if there is a break in your subscriptions, i.e., you do not subscribe to that ISA account for a full tax year, then the rolling application form is no longer valid, and you will need to sign a new application form before you can subscribe again.
Example:
Client A opens an ISA account in tax year 18/19 and signs a rolling ISA application form.
Client A subscribes in tax year 18/19
Client A subscribes in tax year 19/20 – the original application is still valid and no new ISA application is needed
Client A does not subscribe in tax year 20/21
Client A wishes to subscribe to the same ISA account in tax year 21/22 – but as there was a break in subscriptions in the previous tax year, a new application form must be signed before they can subscribe again to this account.
Multiple ISA Accounts
It is possible to subscribe to more than one ISA account in the same tax year, as long as they are not of the same type, e.g., you can subscribe to a Stocks and Shares ISA with one provider and a Cash ISA with another provider in the same tax year, but not to 2 Cash ISA’s in the same tax year.
If you do wish to subscribe to a Cash and Stocks and Shares ISA in the same tax year with different providers, then you will need to sign separate application forms with both providers. If those applications are rolling application forms, then a break in subscriptions with one provider does not affect the other. The ISA account where you have continued to subscribe every tax year, will not require a new application form.
If you open a stocks and shares ISA and a cash ISA with the same provider, they will likely request you to sign application forms for both ISA accounts.
When you do not need to sign an application form
Flexible ISAs – Replacement Subscriptions
A flexible ISA allows you to make withdrawals and replace those withdrawals within the same tax year, without affecting your annual ISA allowance. For flexible ISA’s there is no limit to how much you can replace in any tax year – unless the provider has stated specific terms to the contrary.
When you make an ISA replacement to a flexible ISA account, it is not technically a subscription and hence you do not need to have a valid application form in place or sign a new form.
Additional Permitted Subscriptions (APS)
Additional permitted subscriptions, or as they are also known APS, allow the spouse of a deceased ISA account holder to subscribe the value of their deceased’s spouse’s ISA account to their own ISA account – the surviving spouse can open a new ISA account for this purpose, if needed.
Despite the word, “subscription” being in the title of an APS, it, like ISA replacements, are not technically subscriptions and hence an application form is not needed for the surviving spouse to utilize their APS allowance. Note that an APS will require its own documentation to be signed: an APS authority form.
Changes to terms and conditions
Be aware, even if you sign a rolling application form and continue to make subscriptions every tax year, some managers may still require you to sign a new ISA application form. This will usually be when they have made changes to the T&C’s referenced on the application form, or if there has been regulatory changes to the ISA regime that require the application form to be rewritten.
Application forms not used in the tax year in which they were signed
All ISA application forms must provide you with a field to indicate the first tax year in which you first wish to subscribe. If you do not subscribe during the tax year in which you indicated on the application form, and the application is rolling, then the application form will still be valid for the following tax year.
Junior ISA Accounts (JISA)
Application forms for junior ISA accounts are signed only once upon opening by the registered contact for the child (usually, one of the parents). Even if there is a break in subscriptions, a new application will never be required. The original application form remains valid, unless the registered contact changes or the child takes control of their Junior ISA account, which they can do from the age of 16.