Shell shares A and B, difference?

blinko

Hi all,

was thinking of buying some shell shares

Shell shares A and B, does anyone know what the difference is?

cheers

Linton

Shell A is quoted in Amsterdam under Dutch law & taxes
Shell B is quoted in London under UK law & taxes.

So assuming you are in the UK you would want Shell B.

blinko

cheers pal, am i right in assuming that A shares divi would be in Euros or sterling?

Glen_Clark

blinko wrote: »

am i right in assuming that A shares divi would be in Euros or sterling?

More importantly, you would only get A shares dividend after the Dutch Government had taxed it, then the UK Government would tax it again. So unless you want to pay 2 lots of tax you want B shares.

Daniel54

IanManc wrote: »

If you buy the A shares and take your dividends as shares then you can avoid the Dutch witholding tax - but that seems pointless to me when you can just buy B shares and get your dividends in Sterling, and get the usual UK tax credit for basic rate tax on your dividend. There's no good reason that I can see for a UK based taxpayer to buy the A shares.

One thing worth noting is that if you hold B shares and if you take your dividends as shares you will be issued with A shares, as they don't issue B shares for dividends. So it would be wise to take your dividends as cash to avoid building a small holding of A shares which, in terms of dealing charges, would be expensive to get rid of, and which would have its dividends subject to overseas tax.

So, in short, buy the B shares and take cash divis.

If you hold B shares and take the scrip dividend in A shares,they are generally not subject to UK tax -see quote below from the Shell website

dividends paid out as shares will not be subject to Dutch dividend withholding tax (currently 15 per cent) and will not generally be taxed on receipt by a UK shareholder or a Dutch corporate shareholder

blinko

I barely go anywhere near my annual exemption for capital gains, so taking them as capital/shares would be ideal for me.

I'm domiciled and resident in the UK so I would end up being taxed on the dutch shares on an arising basis