As the end of the tax year approaches and time runs out for investing in 2008/2009 ISAs, advice website Unbiased.co.uk is urging apathetic savers to make the most of their tax-free allowance.

Almost three million investors hold equities which are not in an ISA, the website’s research found; £165million is being wasted on tax payments for wasted Cash ISA savings, while a further £98million is invested by shareholders who are not maximising their savings by using their tax-efficient wrapper and putting it in a Stocks and Shares ISA.

The deadline for investing in the 2008/2009 tax year is April 5th, after which date any unused ISA allowance will be lost.

Up to £7,200 can be invested in a Stocks and Shares ISA, or £3,600 of this total can be put in a Cash ISA to protect it from the taxman.

“Especially in the current environment where interest rates are low, it is important that people don’t pay unnecessary money to the taxman.” said David Elms, chief executive of Unbiased.co.uk.

“Savers should use the next few months to make sure they have made full use of their annual ISA allowance.

“Once you have missed the April 5th deadline, you will lose your tax-efficient ISA savings allowance for the 2008/ 2009 tax year. We hope that if savings rates continue to decline more consumers will be looking into how they can make their money work harder for them by saving in a tax efficient way.”

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