Don’t forget to make the most of your tax allowance this tax year by topping up your Stocks & Shares ISA before the 5th of April.

General Investment Account

A General Investment Account (GIA) is a standard investment account. Unlike an ISA, there are no tax benefits associated with GIAs. Any income received in a GIA, such as dividends or interest payments, is liable to income tax. Any gains realised are liable to capital gains tax.

Depending on your individual circumstances, you may have access to various exemptions and allowances to offset the tax liability, including the dividend allowance, the personal savings allowance and the capital gains tax exemption.

We’ve put together a guide to the different tax allowances available to investors which you can find here. We recommend that you seek tax advice if you are not clear on your eligibility for these allowances.

The main perk of a GIA compared to an ISA is that you can open as many GIAs as you like each year and there is no maximum contribution. GIAs are useful for individuals who are looking to invest more than the £20,000 ISA allowance or individuals who have already used their ISA allowance elsewhere in the current tax year.