When is the Lifetime ISA bonus paid?

How does the Lifetime ISA bonus get paid?

gov.uk says the government adds a 25% bonus to your Lifetime ISA savings, up to £1,000 a year, which is the bonus on the full £4,000 you can pay in each tax year. It is not added the moment you pay in: it follows a monthly cycle set out in the ISA Regulations and in HMRC’s guidance for Lifetime ISA providers, which HMRC calls Lifetime ISA managers.

1. You pay in. Each payment falls into a claim period, which runs from the 6th of one month to the 5th of the next.
2. Your provider claims. After the period ends, your provider claims the bonus on everything paid in during it. The Regulations give it 14 days to do so, and HMRC’s guidance puts the deadline at the 20th of the month.
3. HMRC pays your provider. HMRC checks the claim and pays the provider by BACS, in one payment for each monthly claim period. The Regulations say HMRC must pay within 14 days after the claim deadline.
4. Your provider adds it to your account. The Regulations treat a bonus that is not paid into your Lifetime ISA as a withdrawal, so the bonus goes into the account rather than to you directly.

Put together, HMRC pays your provider about four weeks after the claim period ends, at the latest, and your provider then credits your account. The bonus is paid only on what goes in. HMRC’s guidance says interest, investment growth and the bonus itself do not count as payments in, so the bonus does not use up any of your £4,000 limit.

The Lifetime ISA bonus at a glance

Government bonus

25%

Of what you pay in, up to £1,000 a year

Yearly payment limit

£4,000

Each tax year, until you turn 50

Claim period

6th to 5th

From the 6th of one month to the 5th of the next

Time to claim, then to pay

14 + 14 days

After the claim period ends, under the ISA Regulations

Why does paying in by the 5th matter?

Because every claim period ends on the 5th, the day you pay in decides which monthly claim a payment joins. A payment on the 5th is in the claim that closes that day. A payment on the 6th opens the next claim period, so it waits about a month for that period to end before your provider can claim for it.

The table is an illustration of the rules, using three payments of £200, each earning a £50 bonus. It shows the latest dates the ISA Regulations allow for HMRC to pay your provider. HMRC can pay sooner.

The payments on 6 January and 5 February are in the same claim, so their bonuses are paid together, even though one went in almost a month before the other. That is the whole effect of the 5th: moving a payment from the 6th of a month to the 5th brings its bonus forward by about a month.

What counts is when the money is paid into the Lifetime ISA, not when you decide to send it. For savings moved in from another ISA, HMRC’s guidance says the date of receipt is the date they arrive in the account, so a transfer that is still on its way on the 5th joins the next claim.

How long does the Lifetime ISA bonus take?

The rules put a ceiling on HMRC’s part of the wait. Counting from the day you pay in to the latest day HMRC must pay your provider, it is about four weeks for a payment on the 5th of a month and about eight weeks for a payment on the 6th, with payments in between falling in between. After that, your provider adds the bonus to your account, and how quickly it does so depends on the provider.

A late claim stretches the wait. If your provider claims after the deadline, the Regulations move HMRC’s payment to the timetable of the claim period in which the late claim is made, and HMRC’s guidance says a late claim is not paid until the end of the next monthly reporting period.

Do you have to claim the bonus yourself?

No. HMRC’s guidance says your provider must claim the bonus from HMRC on your behalf. When you apply for a Lifetime ISA, you authorise the provider to submit bonus claims and to hold bonus payments for you. The ISA Regulations add that a bonus is only payable if a claim is made.

If a bonus does not arrive when you expect it, the rules give a route:

• A rejected claim. HMRC must tell your provider when it rejects a claim, with its reasons, and your provider must tell you within 14 days.
• Your right to apply. You then have 90 days to apply to HMRC for the refused bonus. HMRC’s guidance says it tells you its decision directly, and if you succeed it tells your provider to claim the bonus now due.
• A missed payment. If something should have been in a claim but was not, HMRC’s guidance says a claim can be made or corrected within six years after the end of the original claim period, using the data for that period.

Your provider makes the claims and receives HMRC’s payments, so it is the one to ask which claim a payment is in and when it expects the bonus.

Will the bonus arrive before you buy your first home?

Only if it is in the account when the money is withdrawn. gov.uk says you can use a Lifetime ISA towards a first home if you buy at least 12 months after your first payment, buy with a mortgage and use a conveyancer or solicitor, who receives the money directly from your provider. HMRC’s guidance for conveyancers says the funds withdrawn can include any bonus, and its guidance for providers says the provider should pay the conveyancer within 30 days of receiving the declaration and the information it needs.

The timing points to plan around:

• Recent payments. A payment made shortly before the withdrawal may not have its bonus yet. The claim period it falls in, as in the table above, shows the latest date HMRC will pay it.
• More than one withdrawal. HMRC’s guidance lets you make one or several withdrawals for the same purchase, each with its own declaration. So a bonus that arrives before completion can follow in a later withdrawal, if your provider and conveyancer can arrange it in time.
• The 90-day window. The purchase must complete within 90 days of the conveyancer receiving the money. If it is delayed, the conveyancer can ask your provider for a 60-day extension, then a further 30 days.
• Keeping the account open. HMRC’s guidance says that if you withdraw everything, you may need to keep the Lifetime ISA open to receive bonus that was unclaimed or unpaid at the time. It also says you are entitled to any bonus due before an account closes, and HMRC pays it in the normal way.

If the home costs more than £450,000, gov.uk says a 20% withdrawal charge applies instead of the usual 25%. This changed recently: the Budget on 28 October 2026 announced it, and the Individual Savings Account (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2026 apply it to withdrawals made on or after 29 October 2026, where the purchase otherwise meets the rules. The charge is worked through in the withdrawal penalty explained, and using an ISA for a house deposit compares the ways to save for one.

What happens to a pending bonus if you transfer or close the account?

Moving to another Lifetime ISA. You do not lose a bonus by transferring. HMRC’s guidance says the new provider can claim any outstanding bonus, and that if the old provider has claimed a bonus that has not arrived before the transfer, the old provider is responsible for passing it on. For a transfer during a claim period, the ISA Regulations say the claim is made by the provider holding the account at the end of that period. HMRC’s guidance also says a transfer between Lifetime ISA providers must happen within 30 calendar days of your request, and it does not trigger a withdrawal charge. See how ISA transfers work.

Closing it for a reason that carries the charge. HMRC’s guidance tells providers to deduct the 25% withdrawal charge when someone closes a Lifetime ISA after the 30-day cancellation period, and to explain that any unpaid bonus will be paid after the charge is deducted.

Cancelling a new account. HMRC’s guidance says the ISA Regulations give you 30 days to cancel a new Lifetime ISA, and the account is then treated as never having been one. A bonus can already have been claimed and paid within those 30 days, and if so it is repaid to HMRC as part of the cancellation. See the ISA cooling-off period.

What about the end of the tax year and turning 50?

gov.uk says the tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April, and the last claim period of each tax year, from 6 March to 5 April, ends on the same day. So a payment that goes in on 5 April counts towards that tax year’s £4,000 limit and is claimed with that period. A payment on 6 April counts towards the new tax year’s limit and joins the first claim period of the new year.

gov.uk says that when you turn 50, you can no longer pay into a Lifetime ISA or earn the bonus, and HMRC’s guidance says providers must not accept payments once you reach 50. So the last payment that can earn a bonus is one made before your 50th birthday.

What changes with the First Time Buyer ISA?

The Budget on 28 October 2026 said a First Time Buyer ISA will be introduced from April 2029, replacing the Lifetime ISA for new savers. It would keep up to £4,000 a year and a 25% bonus, but pay the bonus on the balance when you withdraw for a qualifying first home, rather than month by month as you save. It has not launched, and this page describes the Lifetime ISA as it works today. See what the government has proposed.

To put numbers on your own payments, the Lifetime ISA calculator shows what the bonus adds up to, and the Lifetime ISA guide covers the rest of the rules and current cash Lifetime ISA rates.