CGT or income tax on share dealing profits

Gaffy

I have a "friend" who is non-employed and doesn't claim any benefits what so ever but purely lives on his share dealing investments. He knows all about cgt, isa's and annual allowances and does in fact pay quite a bit each year in cgt.

His question is at what point would the HMRC deem that the share dealing could be called a job and therefore he should pay income tax instead of cgt?

Also on the self-assessment form, if he pay's cgt could he claim for items that are needed for his share dealing activities such as a computer, office rent, etc or is this only possible if he was to pay income tax?

Richie(UK)

Your 'friend' may wish to consider the Revenue's guidance here : http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/BIM65701.htm

Gaffy

Thanks for the link.

So basically from that information it would seem HRMC looks at share dealing as a form of gambling and thus only cgt is payable no matter how much is earned or if the share dealing is full time.

Biggles

This was a frequent question in the days of the 'dot-com bubble': so many people found they were making a fortune that they wanted to register with the Revenue as people who traded for a living. I never heard of any who succeeded.