Contact us - Tax and savings

Tax-free saving with NS&I

Many financial organisations offer tax-free savings, such as ISAs, where any interest or income you earn is sheltered from the tax man, does not have tax deducted and does not need to be declared on your tax return. NS&I offers a Direct ISA, which is a type of cash ISA – an easy way to start saving tax-free.

We also offer a unique range of other tax-free investments:

Premium Bonds >
Index-linked Savings Certificates* >
Fixed Interest Savings Certificates* >
Children’s Bonus Bonds >

*Not currently on general sale

Understanding gross and net interest

Whether you are a UK taxpayer and if so the rate at which you pay tax is a key factor in making a decision to invest.

You will need to find out whether the interest or return on the investment you're considering is tax-free, net or gross of tax. This will help to ensure that, when comparing rates between accounts and/or providers, you are comparing like for like.

Along with our interest rates we include details of tax information. For our tax-free investments we include the equivalent gross rates for basic, higher and additional rate taxpayers. To find out more see our latest interest rates.

Gross interest

If you are a taxpayer and you are receiving interest gross then you will need to declare any interest you earn on your tax return.

If you are a non-taxpayer then you can keep your gross interest in full.

Net interest

Where interest is paid net, the tax is deducted before you receive the interest, at the applicable savings rate (currently 20%).

If you are a basic rate taxpayer then you don’t need to worry about anything further.

If you are a higher or additional rate taxpayer then you will need to include details of the interest and the tax paid on your tax return.

For any information on tax, visit www.hmrc.gov.uk