Offsetting loss against Capital Gains Tax

Rhino666

Unfortunately I have lost a considerable amount of money on certain shares over the last five years or so. I am looking at ways of using these losses to my best advantage and the only idea I have come up with is to offset them against Capital Gains on another investment of some kind.
I have money to invest and was looking for investment ideas from you guys that would potentially produce a substantial capital gain.

Thanks

cheerfulcat

Hi, Rhino,

Not allowed to discuss specific investments here, unfortunately. In any case, it's best to do your own research...you never know how much someone on a BB actually *knows*, no matter how well-informed they seem!

As a general rule, stock market investments have left bonds and property standing. Also, both fixed interest and property prices have overheated to such an extent that I personally would be uncomfortable investing in those assets now.

Have you claimed your losses? You have to inform the tax office of your losses if you want to set them against future gains ( the losses are rolled forward until you need to use them ).

HTH

Cheerfulcat

Rhino666

Hi Cheerfulcat - thanks for the comments

I am not looking for a specific product, just a general category of investment that may suit my purposes. Totally agree on the property front - I have definitely missed the boat on that one.
I have heard that it may be possible to sell these duff shares and carry the losses forward into the next tax year but my plan was to first make substantial capital gains and then sell these shares to offset the losses. AFAIK it is not possible to indefinitely carry forward Capital losses if I sell the shares now to crystalise the loss ?

al_yrpal

I know that you can claim tax relief on losses on investments in unquoted companies because I did it once. Not so sure about stockmarket shares though.

cheerfulcat

Rhino666 wrote:

Hi Cheerfulcat - thanks for the comments

I am not looking for a specific product, just a general category of investment that may suit my purposes. Totally agree on the property front - I have definitely missed the boat on that one.
I have heard that it may be possible to sell these duff shares and carry the losses forward into the next tax year but my plan was to first make substantial capital gains and then sell these shares to offset the losses. AFAIK it is not possible to indefinitely carry forward Capital losses if I sell the shares now to crystalise the loss ?

Hi, Rhino

It's just that one tends to get told off here for writing about investments so I'm a bit nervous about making suggestions :-( ; however, as a general *area* to think about, I would suggest you could look at oil and energy with an emphasis on small and mid cap companies, either individual shares or in an IT/UT. Commodities in general also look interesting.

Equity income funds are something else you could look at though I wouldn't expect *spectacular* growth going forward.

This is *not* advice.

As things stand now, yes, you can carry losses forward indefinitely. If the shares are really past any hope of recovery, it might be worth salvaging what is left?

HTH

Cheerfulcat

al_yrpal

We did have a discussion on a strategy like you are looking for, but 'nanny' wiped it out because we did discuss some specifics (although no-one was actually recommending anything). I was asking people's opinions on my personal strategy, just checking it out with the experts who look at this board. Most people seemed to think the strategy was OK, and others chipped in with their strategies which were most interesting. I think we all learned something. Its rather a shame that free discusiion is barred, because this is supposed to be a chat forum, and lots of folk post asking how to get a sensible investment strategy, beyond savings.
I take the view that we are all grown up, but the FSA disagrees, and apparently allow only registered Financial Advisors to give advice though authorised sites. Bearing in mind that the public's opinion of Financial Advisors tends to place them in the same untrusted category as Estate Agents and Politicians, the FSA's efforts to clean up Financial Services has stifled free speech which is a right we are supposed to enjoy in the UK (especially on the internet!).
Nanny Strikes again.

If you want a 'nanny' free discussion, The Motley Fool web-site might be a place to look. Here's their view on this subject which is a lot more grown up than here http://www.fool.co.uk/disclaimer.htm