A Junior ISA, or JISA, is a tax-free investment account for children under the age of 18. The Moneybox JISA is a Stocks & Shares ISA – which means it benefits from growth potential that comes with investing but also comes with the inherent risks too.
A parent or guardian can open and manage a Moneybox JISA for their child, and can invest up to £9,000 per tax year. Plus, that £9,000 won’t affect your personal annual ISA allowance of £20,000 and all your gains will be free from capital gains and income tax.
Who can open a JISA?
Currently, only existing Moneybox customers can open a JISA. A Moneybox JISA can be set up by a child’s parent or guardian – unfortunately that means that grandparents, aunties, uncles and other relatives can’t open one (unless you’re their legal guardian). To open a Moneybox JISA you need to be a UK resident aged 18 or over and be the parent or guardian of a child under 18 years old.
If you want to open a Moneybox JISA for a child that already has a Child Trust Fund or JISA elsewhere, you’d need to transfer it into a Moneybox JISA.
With Moneybox, you can open multiple JISAs under your parent account for multiple children, which you can manage from within the Moneybox app. Plus, each child will have a £9,000 personal annual allowance. However, only the child can withdraw money from a Moneybox Junior ISA once they turn 18.
What happens to a JISA when the child turns 18?
The parent or guardian is in charge of managing how money is invested until the child turns 16, although it’s a good idea to teach them about money management before this. Once they turn 16, the child can take full control of how the account and how money is invested, but the account is still classed as a JISA and they won’t be able to withdraw the money.
When the child turns 18, their JISA will ‘mature’ into a regular Stocks & Shares ISA which they can manage through their own Moneybox account. When their JISA matures, the annual tax allowance will increase from £9,000 to £20,000. At this point, the child has sole control of the account and can make deposits and withdrawals.
How does the Moneybox JISA work?
Moneybox makes it easy to invest for your child’s future. With a Moneybox JISA you can:
- Make instant bank transfers
- Open JISAs for multiple children
- Transfer in other JISAs to Moneybox
- Get help from our dedicated support team
Start investing with our three simple Starting options – Cautious, Balanced, and Adventurous – which allow you to invest in a range of global companies across 12 tracker funds.
Invest for your child’s future
Give your child’s future a flying start with a Moneybox JISA – open a JISA in-app by heading to Accounts > Junior ISA.
Important to know
All investing should be long term (min. 5 years). The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Please note, instant bank transfers are not supported by all banks.
