Can I Inherit My Spouse's ISA Allowance? (UK APS)

Yes. When a married or civil partner ISA holder dies, the surviving spouse / civil partner gets a one-time Additional Permitted Subscription (APS) equal to the value of the deceased’s ISA at the higher of date of death or date of transfer. This APS is in addition to the surviving spouse’s own £20,000 annual ISA allowance and can be used over a window of typically 3 years from death (or 180 days from probate, if later). The deceased’s ISA wrapper itself doesn’t transfer — the survivor uses the APS to put inherited funds into their own new or existing ISAs.

This is the full mechanics for the 2026/27 tax year.

What the APS actually is

The Additional Permitted Subscription is a special one-time ISA allowance for surviving spouses, introduced in 2015 and refined since. It works alongside the standard annual ISA limit, not replacing it.

Key features:

• Available to: the surviving spouse or civil partner only.
• Amount: equal to the value of the deceased’s ISA at the higher of the date of death or the date of transfer.
• Usable across: cash ISAs, stocks & shares ISAs. (LISA-specific APS rules are slightly different.)
• Time window: up to 3 years from the date of death, or 180 days from the date of completion of probate, whichever is later.
• Stacks with the annual £20,000: you keep your normal allowance AND the APS.

The APS is sometimes called the “inherited ISA allowance” or the “spouse ISA allowance”. HMRC’s name is APS.

Why this matters

Before the APS was introduced in 2015, when a spouse died, the ISA wrapper closed and any future income or gains on the inherited assets became taxable. For a couple with £200,000 in ISAs, this could mean significant tax going forward.

With the APS, the surviving spouse can put up to the full inherited amount back into ISA wrappers — preserving the tax-free status that the couple had built up.

For a long-married couple with substantial ISA wealth, this is one of the most valuable estate-planning provisions in UK personal finance.

How the calculation works

The APS amount is the higher of:

• The value of the deceased’s ISA at the date of death.
• The value of the deceased’s ISA at the date the funds are transferred to the spouse.

Worked example:

• Sam died on 1 May 2025 with £100,000 in his ISA.
• During the 3-year continuing ISA period, the markets do well and the ISA grows to £120,000 by the date of transfer to his spouse Mira.
• Mira’s APS = £120,000 (the higher of the two values).
• This is in addition to Mira’s own £20,000 annual allowance for 2026/27.

The mechanism captures both the original value and any growth during the continuing ISA period, so the spouse doesn’t lose out from market timing.

What the spouse does with the APS

The mechanics:

1. Notify the ISA provider of the spouse’s death.
2. Wait for probate if needed.
3. Receive the inherited ISA funds — either directly from the deceased’s provider or via the executor.
4. Open or use an existing ISA in the spouse’s own name. This can be at the deceased’s provider (often the simplest) or at any other UK ISA provider.
5. Apply the APS when subscribing — the provider records the subscription as “APS” rather than standard annual subscription.
6. Pay in up to the APS amount within the 3-year (or 180-day-after-probate) window.

You don’t need to use the APS in one go. You can split it across multiple ISAs and over time — as long as the total is within the APS amount and the window.

The deceased’s ISA wrapper itself doesn’t transfer to the spouse. The funds move into the spouse’s estate, then back into ISA wrappers via the APS.

Provider mechanics — “APS subscriptions”

Most major UK ISA providers (HSBC, NatWest, Halifax, Nationwide, AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown etc.) offer specific APS processes. They’ll:

• Open or designate an ISA to receive the APS subscription.
• Tag the subscription as “APS” in their HMRC reporting.
• Confirm the APS amount based on documentation from the deceased’s provider.

If the deceased’s ISA is at one provider and the spouse wants to use the APS at a different provider, that’s allowed. The new provider needs documentation from the old one confirming the APS value.

What if the deceased had multiple ISAs?

The APS is per deceased person, not per ISA. Add up the value of all the deceased’s ISAs at the relevant date(s), and that’s the APS amount available to the surviving spouse.

So if the deceased had £80,000 in a cash ISA + £150,000 in a stocks & shares ISA + £30,000 in a LISA, the APS is £260,000.

The spouse can use the £260,000 APS to fund any combination of their own adult ISAs — they don’t need to match the deceased’s split.

Time limits to watch

The APS time window:

• Standard: 3 years from the date of death.
• Extended: 180 days from the date probate is granted, if later than the 3-year mark.

For estates where probate is slow (complex estates, contested wills), the extension means the APS doesn’t expire before probate is complete.

If the window expires before the APS is fully used, the unused portion is lost. The spouse can still inherit and hold the funds — they just can’t put them back in an ISA after the deadline.

For most estates, 3 years is more than enough time. The risk is forgetting about the APS — it’s worth a calendar reminder if you’re an executor or beneficiary.

What if the deceased was a non-spouse beneficiary?

The APS is only available to a married or civil-partner spouse. Other beneficiaries (children, friends, charities) receive the inherited funds but don’t get any ISA allowance uplift.

So if you inherit £100,000 from a parent’s ISA, you receive £100,000 of cash (or assets transferred out of the ISA wrapper). You can put up to your standard £20,000 annual allowance into your own ISA each year — but you don’t get an APS for the £100,000.

Does the APS apply to LISAs?

LISA-specific APS rules differ slightly:

• The deceased’s LISA value adds to the overall APS amount.
• But the spouse can’t use the APS to subscribe to a LISA (unless they themselves qualify for a LISA under the standard 18–39 opening rule).
• They can use the APS to subscribe to a cash ISA or stocks & shares ISA in their own name.

For most surviving spouses, this isn’t a constraint — the APS works for the main adult ISAs they hold.

What about inheritance tax?

The APS is an ISA allowance mechanism — it doesn’t affect Inheritance Tax (IHT).

For IHT purposes:

• The deceased’s ISAs form part of their estate at death.
• Assets passing to a UK-domiciled spouse / civil partner are 100% IHT-exempt.
• So a £200,000 ISA passing to a spouse is IHT-free regardless of the rest of the estate.
• The spouse uses the APS to put the funds back into ISA wrappers.

For non-spouse beneficiaries, the deceased’s ISAs count toward the estate and may attract 40% IHT above the nil-rate band. See our ISA inheritance guide.

Worked example: married couple, ISA inheritance

David and Pat have been married for 25 years. David dies in May 2025 with £180,000 in ISAs. Pat is 62.

• APS available: £180,000 (his ISA value at death; we’ll assume no significant change before transfer).
• Pat’s normal 2026/27 allowance: £20,000.
• Pat’s total ISA capacity for the year: £200,000.

Pat:

• Opens her own stocks & shares ISA at the same provider (David’s ISA was there).
• Transfers David’s ISA assets into her new ISA via the APS process.
• Uses £180,000 of APS subscription. Plus £20,000 of her own annual allowance.
• Result: £200,000 of her own ISA wealth, all in a tax-free wrapper.

Without the APS, she would have inherited £180,000 of post-ISA money — taxed as ordinary investments going forward. The APS preserves the tax-free status.

Internal links

• What happens to my ISA when I die UK
• How many ISAs can I have at once?
• Can I pay into two ISAs in the same tax year?

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This guide is information, not regulated financial advice. APS rules can interact with probate and IHT in complex ways — speak to a UK probate solicitor or qualified tax adviser when dealing with a specific estate.