anyone remember the old 'claim for repayment' tax circa late 90's

surfs_up

i have shares operated on a discretionary basis by a manager.i used to have a claim for repayment of around 1500 each year but gordon brown scraped it.i've not seen an accountant.my solicitor used to fill in the form.with 8 years worth of bought and sold share certificates my questions are a) am i in trouble b)does the old claim for repayment option have a contempory equivvilant

insured

Shares operated on a discretionary basis are those within a portfolio held by the stockbroker who has complete discretion and authority to change the shareholdings as he thinks fit. This contrasts to a share portfolio held on an advisory basis where the broker recommends various changes. It is up to the client whether or not he implements the changes.
I presume you also have a solicitor involves who deals with the broker as a sort of middle man and may also recommend other financial products which he is authorised to do.
The tax repayment you refer to, I presume is the claim for repayment from the dividend tax credits.
Unfortunately, the dividend tax credit is no longer repayable to those who are non tax payers - even though the dividend itself has a tax credit attatched to it.
You are therefore paying tax when you probably should not be, but you cannot get it back.
Your alternative is to switch to an advisory basis, and ask the broker to recommend things like treasury stock where you can get the tax credit repaid.
Alternatively, you could take some money out of your portfolio and invest in an ordinary high rate bank or building society account.
Your solicitor, who presumably was dealing with the repayments all of these years should have known about these changes - around about the time you stopped receiving the repayment claim - and should have been aware of your personal circumstances and given you this advice.
I am not sure why there was a wait of eight years before the repayments were done. Perhaps the solicitor was busy!?!?!?!

surfs_up

cheers for the replies,insured is correct although i had asolicitor up until about 8 years ago then decided to let her go.i've not spoken to anyone regarding tax or my portfollio since due to illness.my shares are managed,which i'm starting to question the costs of especially as the advisory option sounds like its the same service for probably less money.the portfollio provides an income of around 3000 and then theres maybe CGT on profit from shares bought and sold.is it right i'm free from tax obligations Insured?

insured

You are still liable for CGT on any sales within the discretionary management., in exactly the same way as if you held them yourself or they were in an advisory system. The broker usually gives you details at the end of the year of disposals and whether this will trigger any CGT. They try to keep it within your annual allowance if they can. I presume, if your dividends are about £3k you portfolio valuation is about £150?
Alot of brokers argue that discretionary managment is cheaper, as their admin costs are cheaper - they do not have to write to you, they can react quickly without consulting you, they can do this in bulk. I am not sure about that. Speak to your broker.
The most important issue you need to address is to make sure that the portfolio is arranged in such a way you are not paying unnecessary tax (via non repayable tax credits)