If you decide to withdraw from your Lifetime ISA for reasons outside making a qualifying first home purchase or retiring, or you’re withdrawing before the account has been open for at least 12 months, you can do so in Settings > Withdraw > LISA > Another reason.

Please remember that your withdrawal will incur the 25% government penalty (except in cases of terminal illness with less than 12 months to live). When entering the amount you’d like to withdraw, you’ll see an estimate on how much you’ll receive after HMRC have deducted the 25% penalty.

For Cash LISAs, your withdrawal will typically complete within 3 working days.

For Stocks & Shares LISAs, you’ll first need to sell down your investments to your Available Cash, and then withdraw the proceeds to your bank. Sales are typically complete within 3-5 working days, and you’ll receive a confirmation email to let you know when each sale has completed.

Please note that when selling investments you may receive back a little more or less than you have chosen to withdraw. This is because prices change daily and it will take one working day to process the sale of your funds.

Once your sale(s) have completed, the proceeds will be sent to your Available Cash, and you can withdraw this to your linked bank account in Settings > Withdraw, at which point the 25% government penalty will apply. Withdrawals from Available Cash are paid out the next available working day. 💸

If you’re looking for information on withdrawing your LISA for your first home, check out the “Lifetime ISA for a first home” category in the LISA section of our FAQs.