What should I do before tax year end?  

As the tax year end approaches, there are a few things investors should have on their checklist.  

• Review your contributions into your ISAs or pensions this year, and check remaining allowances.
• Consider whether you can top up ISAs or pensions. You don’t have to maximise allowances to make a difference.  
• Consider ‘drip feeding’ future contributions. You may, for example, have the funds available to use your full ISA allowance at the start of the tax year, but feel it is prudent to add it to the market gradually. The J.P. Morgan Personal Investing 100% cash pot feature works – in ISAs and GIAs – by connecting up two J.P. Morgan Personal Investing pots with a monthly transfer. You’ll need two pots – one will be a cash pot, and the other will be an investment pot. Money added to the cash pot with J.P. Morgan Personal Investing is not initially invested, but is instead transferred to the investment pot over time. With ISAs this ensures the cash has the tax protections when it is ultimately invested. "Drip feeding" is all about contributing smaller amounts on a regular basis — taking advantage of what investors call “pound-cost-averaging” — and means you’re less exposed to short-term market movements. As the J.P. Morgan Personal Investing Pension does not currently have a cash pot feature, you could act on the investment theory in the same way by setting up a monthly direct debit. Please note the cash only pot option is not available for income investing pots.
• Ask for help if you need it. The tax year end can be a busy time, and tax can be complicated. Our mission at J.P. Morgan Personal Investing is to make investing as easy, accessible, and transparent as possible. If you need a helping hand on which investment products could help you to invest tax-efficiently, or would like to speak to someone, our friendly team of experts is here. Please note that J.P. Morgan Personal Investing cannot give tax advice, so you may wish to speak with a qualified tax adviser about tax allowances. 

Leaving yourself plenty of time to invest before the end of the tax year on 5 April 2026 means you can avoid any last-minute worries and make the most of your tax allowances.

If you have a J.P. Morgan Personal Investing ISA, LISA, or JISA there are a variety of ways to contribute and invest your money. If you don’t have an ISA, the new tax year can be a good time to review your finances and make the most of any tax allowances.

A J.P. Morgan Personal Investing pension will have different deadlines that you need to be aware of, which we’ll discuss later.

If you have a J.P. Morgan Personal Investing Stocks and Shares ISA, Lifetime ISA or Junior ISA

Key dates for contributions (indicative dates only)

Note: The dates here are from Tax year end 2024/2025 (April 2025) and can be used as a reference of what to expect payment deadlines to be for funds to reach your account in time for tax year end 2025/2026. We will update this guide once these are confirmed. 

There are several routes to contributing to your Stocks and Shares ISA, LISA or JISA to make sure any money added is attributed to the 2025/26 tax year. You can contribute as many times as you like before the end of the tax year with any combination of lump sums and regular payments, providing you don’t exceed the annual allowance.

Regular contributions (indicative dates only)

Direct Debit

• If you make regular contributions via a Direct Debit that are usually collected from your bank account on the 3rd, 4th or 5th of the month, your April Direct Debit contribution will not make it in time to count for the current tax year. Therefore, you’ll need to cancel your existing Direct Debit and set up a new one so that it is collected on or before 23:59 on 2 April.
• Be aware that it typically takes up to 10 business days to set up a new Direct Debit. However, in certain cases a manual verification may be required which could extend the timeline by an additional five days. We therefore recommend allowing plenty of time and making any changes by 12 March.

Standing order

• If you make regular contributions with a standing order, you’ll need to be on top of the deadlines for manual bank transfers.
• For most standing orders via Faster Payments the deadline is 22:00 on 4 April, but for CHAPS transfers, the deadline is 16:00 on 4 April.

Other contributions

Easy bank transfer, debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay

• The deadline for contributions by any of these methods is 23:59 on 5 April. An easy bank transfer (where money goes directly from your bank account to your chosen J.P. Morgan Personal Investing pot) is typically the fastest way to contribute to your ISAs.

Manual bank transfers

• You can manually transfer money from your bank account to your J.P. Morgan Personal Investing account, using your J.P. Morgan Personal Investing account number as a reference. The deadline for most people using manual bank transfers is 22:00 on 4 April.
• If you specifically use CHAPS, there is an earlier deadline of 16:00 on 4 April. Be aware that depending on your bank, you may need to split your contribution over several days. Additionally, some banks require a manual set-up which may increase the time it takes to process these contributions. 
• You’re currently not able to contribute to your LISA by manual bank transfer.

More information on how to pay into your J.P. Morgan Personal Investing accounts can be found here.

Allocation from General Investment Account

• If you have a General Investment Account (GIA), you may want to move money already invested via your GIA into your ISA. This process is sometimes called ‘bed and ISA’ and involves selling your general investment funds and buying them within an ISA. Any gains on the sale of GIA investments may be subject to CGT. To ensure this is completed within the 2025/26 tax year, this should be requested by 17:00 on 3 April.

Remember, friends and family can also contribute to a J.P. Morgan Personal Investing JISA via manual bank transfers, so it may be a good idea to share the details and deadlines with them if appropriate. You can share the contribution details easily from the mobile app by tapping the “Pay in” button when viewing the JISA.

If you have a pension with J.P. Morgan Personal Investing (indicative dates only)

If you would like to contribute to your J.P. Morgan Personal Investing pension, payments can only be made via Direct Debit at this time.  You can't pay into a J.P. Morgan Personal Investing pension by bank transfer.

 If you’re making your first Direct Debit contribution into your pension  

The deadline is 16:00 on 14 March. The first Direct Debit contribution takes 10 business days to process from when the mandate is put in place. Direct Debits initiated after this date are not guaranteed to reach us before the end of the tax year.

We may also need to ask for documents to verify your identity or support your Direct Debit set-up, in which case, it could take longer to get your contribution set up. So, plan ahead to make sure your pension contributions arrive on time.

If you’ve already set up monthly Direct Debit contributions into your pension 

The deadline is 16:00 on 4 April. Any active Direct Debits and active regular contribution expectations set up to collect on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th (16:00 cut-off) of April will be classed as 2025/26 tax year contributions and will be reported as such to HMRC. Any collections on the 5th will count towards the next year's tax allowance. The latest date to change an active Direct Debit collection is 21 March. 

The deadline for one-off Direct Debit contributions is 16:00 on 26 March.

If you need any help

Our client services team is available to answer any of your questions as we approach tax year end. To discuss tax year end in greater detail, please drop us an email at support@personalinvesting.jpmorgan.com or book a free call for more guidance on making the most of your allowances.

Risk warning: As with all investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your portfolio can go down or up and you may get back less than you invest. ISA/JISA/LISA/Pension eligibility rules apply. With LISAs, govt withdrawal charges may apply. Seek financial advice if you're unsure if a pension is right for you. Tax rules vary by individual status and may change. This is general information, not personalised tax advice.