When saving and investing your wealth, you will likely take advantage of ISAs because they offer significant tax advantages.
Cash ISAs are a good option for short-term savings because you won’t pay tax on any interest you generate. You might invest through a Stocks and Shares ISA, too, because there is no Dividend Tax or Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to pay on your returns.
As such, using ISAs can help you build wealth tax-efficiently. However, there are limits on the amount you can contribute each year. It’s important to consider how you will continue building wealth once you’ve used your ISA allowance for the year, especially after changes to the rules from April 2027.
Read on to learn more.
You can contribute up to £20,000 a year to your ISAs but an important change is coming in 2027
In the 2026/27 tax year, you have an annual ISA allowance of £20,000. You can split this amount across all your ISAs in any way you choose.
You could keep it all in a Cash ISA, invest the entire amount in a Stocks and Shares ISA, or split it between the two. Once you’ve used the full £20,000, you can’t contribute any more to your ISAs until the new tax year starts on 6 April.
These rules are changing from April 2027.
To encourage more savers to invest their wealth, the government is introducing a £12,000 Cash ISA limit. You will still be able to contribute £20,000 overall, but only £12,000 can be held in cash.
This might mean you’re even more likely to exceed your Cash ISA limit and may need to consider alternatives.
Here are five options to consider if you’ve used your ISA allowance.
1. Make use of your partner’s ISA allowance
One crucial point to note is that the ISA allowance is an individual threshold. This means that your spouse or partner has their own £20,000 allowance.
If you’ve used your allowance for the year and want to continue saving or investing, consider whether they have any of their allowance left. By planning together, you increase the amount you can save and invest tax-efficiently to £40,000.
2. Use a non-ISA savings account
After the changes to the Cash ISA come into effect, you might be more likely to max out your allowance, even if you’re planning with a partner.
Should you decide to save more cash, you might need to use a non-ISA savings account. However, there are several key points to consider here.
First, much like Cash ISAs, the interest rates on savings accounts vary, so you’ll need to shop around to ensure you achieve as much growth as possible.
More importantly, a standard savings account doesn’t offer the same tax benefits as a Cash ISA. This means that you will pay tax on any interest that exceeds your Personal Savings Allowance (PSA).
In 2026/27, the PSA is:
- £1,000 for a basic-rate taxpayer
- £500 for a higher-rate taxpayer
- £0 for an additional-rate taxpayer.
Any interest that exceeds your PSA will be taxed at your marginal rate of Income Tax.
You must be aware of this, and if you’re keeping large amounts of cash, which are attracting Income Tax, you may want to consider alternative ways to hold your wealth.
3. Invest in Premium Bonds
Premium Bonds might be a useful tax-efficient alternative if you want to keep cash for an emergency fund or to pay for short-term goals such as a holiday.
For every £1 you invest in Premium Bonds, you get one entry in a monthly prize draw. Winners are chosen at random and awarded prizes ranging from £25 up to £1 million.
Crucially, all prizes are tax-free. You can also access your Premium Bonds easily if you need the cash.
However, although the large prizes seem attractive, your chances of winning them are very slim and in most months, you might win £25, or nothing at all.
As such, Premium Bonds might not be a suitable alternative if you’re trying to generate long-term growth. But they can be useful if you’ve used your ISA allowance and want to save more easily accessible, tax-efficient cash.
4. Contribute to a General Investment Account
Although you adopt a level of risk, investing in a Stocks and Shares ISA could help you generate long-term returns that exceed the growth from cash. This could mean your wealth is more likely to grow faster than inflation, and you may be better able to achieve important goals in life.
If you’ve already used your ISA allowance for the year, you could continue investing but you’ll need to use a General Investment Account (GIA). Unfortunately, these don’t offer the same tax benefits as an ISA.
This means you may pay:
- Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on profits you earn from selling investments
- Dividend Tax on dividend income you earn from investments.
These taxes could reduce your overall returns from investing. Despite this, you could still benefit from investing in a GIA, but you may want to discuss your tax liability with a financial planner to make use of allowances and reduce the amount you pay.
5. Pay into your pension
If you’re taking a long-term approach, you may decide to invest additional funds in your pension. You’ll enjoy similar tax benefits to an ISA because there is no CGT or Dividend Tax to pay on growth from your investments.
However, bear in mind that you can’t normally access these savings until you reach the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) of 55 (rising to 57 from April 2028).
So, if you’re planning to build wealth for retirement, your pension is a good option. However, if you are likely to need the funds earlier in life, you may consider other options on this list.
Get in touch
We can help you continue to build wealth tax-efficiently once you’ve used your ISA allowance.
Please give us a call on 01276 855717 or email info@braywealth.com today.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at individuals only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.
An ISA is a medium to long term investment, which aims to increase the value of the money you invest for growth or income or both. The value of your investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise. You may not get back the amount you invested.
HM Revenue and Customs’ practice and the law relating to taxation are complex and subject to individual circumstances and changes which cannot be foreseen.
Approved by the Openwork Partnership on 08/07/2026
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