Company shares?

Susanjane_2

My husband is about to be given £1,000.00 worth of shares when the company he works for floats.

He is allowed to sell these straight away but we would like to know does he have to pay any sort of tax when he sells them, he's a higher rate tax payer.

Thank you.
Susan

Masomnia

Only capital gains tax, but the threshold is £11,000, so unless the float goes exceptionally well for him and/or he disposes of other assets in the tax year it's unlikely there will be any tax.

Thrugelmir

Maybe worth hanging onto the Virgin bank shares.

Susanjane_2

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Maybe worth hanging onto the Virgin bank shares.

I was that obvious was I?:).

You may be right and they have another £1,000 that they'll have to keep for at least a year, just unsure what to do.

Thanks.

Susanjane_2

Masomnia wrote: »

Only capital gains tax, but the threshold is £11,000, so unless the float goes exceptionally well for him and/or he disposes of other assets in the tax year it's unlikely there will be any tax.

Thanks for your reply, thats very helpful.

Thanks.

Masomnia

Haha yes I googled upcoming IPOs as well. Curiosity

Personally I'd be tempted to hang on to them too, but I guess you have to do what's best for your circumstances.

Susanjane_2

Masomnia wrote: »

Haha yes I googled upcoming IPOs as well. Curiosity

Personally I'd be tempted to hang on to them too, but I guess you have to do what's best for your circumstances.

it's just we had RBS shares before (well still got them) so a bit wary.

SW17

Masomnia wrote: »

Only capital gains tax, but the threshold is £11,000, so unless the float goes exceptionally well for him and/or he disposes of other assets in the tax year it's unlikely there will be any tax.

Is the £1000 itself liable for income tax and NI if the share grant is outside an HMRC approved employee share scheme? I've always been taxed on bonuses paid in shares (when they vested), but that wasn't in an IPO and maybe the rules are different.

Susanjane_2

SW17 wrote: »

Is the £1000 itself liable for income tax and NI if the share grant is outside an HMRC approved employee share scheme? I've always been taxed on bonuses paid in shares (when they vested), but that wasn't in an IPO and maybe the rules are different.

From what he was told yesterday they will be taxed on them.

Susan

dtsazza

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Maybe worth hanging onto the Virgin bank shares.

It might be - but I wouldn't let inertia influence this decision. The fact that the shares are already owned is just a coincidence, that is broadly speaking irrelevant.

Imagine you had £1,000 "spare" cash. Would you feel that investing in Virgin shares was the best thing you could do with it?

If so, you should keep your £1,000 in Virgin shares. If not, you should sell the shares and put the £1,000 in whatever other thing you thought was a better choice for you - which might just be cash in an easy access savings account.

Don't just think you "may as well" keep the shares - they're so liquid that they can be easily swapped for £1,000 worth of anything else.