Standard Life Shares into a Self Select ISA

Dithering_Dad

Hi,

Apologies if this has been asked before but I'm new to this investment lark and so need a bit of assistance.

I was given Standard Life shares last year and I'm waiting for the free ones to arrive. The shares are held by Standard Life in the account they originally set up to hold them.

Once I receive my free shares I was considering selling them, but have now decided to hang onto them and maybe add to them with more shares from SL and other larger, dividend paying companies.

My question is, can I move my SL shares to a maxi self-select ISA without any tax implications. If I can, then does anyone recommend a self-select ISA? Finally, I would like to use any dividends received to purchase more shares within the ISA - are there any tax implications in doing this?

Thanks in advance!

gt94sss2

Dithering_Dad wrote: »

My question is, can I move my SL shares to a maxi self-select ISA without any tax implications. If I can, then does anyone recommend a self-select ISA? Finally, I would like to use any dividends received to purchase more shares within the ISA - are there any tax implications in doing this?

You cannot move shares you already own directly into an ISA (with very few exceptions) - you will need to sell them and buy them back within a ISA account.. though if a broker knows that you are going to do this they may give you a special deal on the commission or dealing spread (its called 'Bed and ISA')

As for tax implications - the selling of your shares will be subject to Capital Gains Tax and if you got all of them for free then 'all of it' is a 'gain' (otherwise its the difference between the purchase price and the sale price)

However, you do have an annual CGT allowance of £9,200 so if your gain on this (and anything else you are selling) is under this, you don't need to worry.

Once your shares are in an ISA - if you want to reinvest dividends in Standard Life (or another company) you can with no tax implications (apart from stamp duty (0.5%) which is charged when people buy shares)

As for ISA providers:

If you bank with HSBC and want an maxi ISA, look at HSBC InvestDirect - and don't charge an annual fee for ISA accounts

First Direct have a similar account

Otherwise, Selftrade are a very popular choice and charge £25/year for an ISA account and have a referral scheme where you could get up to £80 for joining them. In addition, if your shares are currently held in the Computershare Registrar account, Selftrade will refund their fees to transfer your shareholding to them.

Regards
Sunil

Primrose

Suggest you also contact Hargreaves Lansdown (h-l.co.uk) as they told me I could move my Standard Life shares into an ISA once I'd been granted my free shares. But I plan to top up my £7000 allowance with some unit trusts, which I believe I can also do.

Dithering_Dad

I've just been on the HL website and found the following:

I have shares in certificated form, how can I transfer these in to my Vantage ISA?

In order to transfer shares in to an ISA they have to be sold and then bought back in the ISA. This is known as a Bed & ISA. With a Bed & ISA we waive the normal stockbroking commission to sell your shares, saving you as much as £50. All you pay is 1% (minimum £10, maximum £50) to buy your shares back within the ISA or SIPP and stamp duty of 0.5%. Furthermore as we buy back the shares immediately, the only difference in price will be the standard bid offer spread. Thereafter, the annual management charge to hold shares is just 0.5% (+VAT). To Bed & ISA your shares please send your share certificates and a Vantage ISA application form with a covering letter to our Kendal House address.

I also had a peek on a few other Self select ISA provider websites and they confirm that you have to sell the shares and then buy them back. This might work out nicely because I was thinking of combining my wife and my SL shares together into a single ISA in her name and then maybe buy more shares up to the total 7k limit.

I know we can have 14k worth of ISA savings, but with the 100k in pension and Mortgage free challenges that I'm doing at the mo, I can only stretch so far.