Treasury announces AIM shares to be allowed in ISAs

sheffield_lad

Great news for investors with exposure to AIM, it should encourage some money back into a lot of shares.

http://www.iii.co.uk/articles/101453/treasury-announces-aim-shares-be-allowed-isas

gkerr4

this is good news actually - although i am slightly confused by the statement:

As part of the government's drive to encourage investment in small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) it has been revealed that from the autumn more than 1,000 companies listed on AIM will be eligible for direct ISA investment.

Does this mean that not all AIM stocks will be eligible? and if so, what criteria do stocks need to achieve? - or are there only 1000 stocks on AIM?

sheffield_lad

ummm, not sure unless they take out the shares with dual listing which are already eligible?

Masomnia

Some AIM stocks are already ISA-able, so I guess that's why they brought it up.

ETA: As per Sheffield Lad's post...

kidmugsy

Is there a list of the AIM shares that are free of Inheritance Tax after you've owned them for two years? Or does it apply to all AIM shares?

Ark_Welder

kidmugsy wrote: »

Is there a list of the AIM shares that are free of Inheritance Tax after you've owned them for two years? Or does it apply to all AIM shares?

Only those shares that are not also listed on another exchange, i.e. those that are currently eligible for an ISA. Ditto, for shares traded on the USM.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page16.htm#b

Ark_Welder

gkerr4 wrote: »

... or are there only 1000 stocks on AIM?

As of May this year, 863 UK companies and 224 international.

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/statistics/historic/aim/aim.htm

bowlhead99

Great news, though now that means I'm going to be tempted to buy some more AIM shares in my ISA rather than keeping them in the 'play money' pot where they belong!

I have a couple of dual-listed ones in the ISA (which pay dividends and I expect to be a longer term hold) but generally my AIM investments are more speculative with lower divi payouts, and the CGT allowances - plus the losses on the ones that dont work out - can cover most of the liabilities on them.

There is a lot of rubbish on AIM but also some companies with great growth potential, so if you can sort the wheat from the chaff it has to be a good thing to be able to get high growth shares into your ISA allowances and effectively increase the total size of your tax-protected wrapped pot over the next x years to retirement. If instead you put your low growth blue-chips in the ISA and were forced to kept the higher growth stuff outside, you'd wind up with a much smaller 'tax haven' to hold your bonds and high income stuff once you get older and need it.

Caveat emptor of course because if you invest in something with great potential but generally lower transparency and governance, you could easily erode the size of the wrapped pot and of course once it's gone it's gone.

sheffield_lad

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/10183460/Investors-free-to-put-Aim-shares-into-Isas-from-August.html

Aim now Isa able from the 5th Aug, this is great news for both small AIM firms and investors.