SVS Securities - shut down?

snipkin

RasputinB said:

Has everybody checked their Consolidated Taxation Advices from ITI Capital?

Mine show that they paid me less than they should have for USD dividends as the GBP amounts on the CTA are greater than the GBP amounts that I received from ITI.

I am keen to know if this is due to “asymmetric price slippage” for which FXCM Group (now ITI Capital) were fined by the FCA.

Can anybody report discrepancies the other way i.e. that they received more dividend than stated on their CTA?

How did you check your Consolidated Taxation Advices from ITI? Is this the same as the Tax Certificate which can be used to fill in your tax assessment? I have tried a few times to obtain a tax certificate for the 2020-2021 tax year from ITI. They seem very responsive on the phone, that it will be with me within 24 hours etc - but then nothing arrives... Is there any obligation for ITI to supply us with a Tax Certificate? I have received one from both Jarvis and IWeb (into which my ITI investments were transferred) - simpy by downloading them from their websites. The ITI 'Phoenix' platform gives me one line of information about some dollar payment and its conversion to pounds which I can make no sense of - and that's all. But I received quite a few dividends while my invesments were with ITI - and I'm sure that one or two I should have had are missing. This is a disgraceful and shoddy practice by ITI. Anyway, I've filled in my tax assessment as best as I could but not sure it's correct...

RasputinB

snipkin said:

RasputinB said:

Has everybody checked their Consolidated Taxation Advices from ITI Capital?

Mine show that they paid me less than they should have for USD dividends as the GBP amounts on the CTA are greater than the GBP amounts that I received from ITI.

I am keen to know if this is due to “asymmetric price slippage” for which FXCM Group (now ITI Capital) were fined by the FCA.

Can anybody report discrepancies the other way i.e. that they received more dividend than stated on their CTA?

How did you check your Consolidated Taxation Advices from ITI? Is this the same as the Tax Certificate which can be used to fill in your tax assessment? I have tried a few times to obtain a tax certificate for the 2020-2021 tax year from ITI. They seem very responsive on the phone, that it will be with me within 24 hours etc - but then nothing arrives... Is there any obligation for ITI to supply us with a Tax Certificate? I have received one from both Jarvis and IWeb (into which my ITI investments were transferred) - simpy by downloading them from their websites. The ITI 'Phoenix' platform gives me one line of information about some dollar payment and its conversion to pounds which I can make no sense of - and that's all. But I received quite a few dividends while my invesments were with ITI - and I'm sure that one or two I should have had are missing. This is a disgraceful and shoddy practice by ITI. Anyway, I've filled in my tax assessment as best as I could but not sure it's correct...

Is there any obligation for ITI to supply us with a Tax Certificate? 

Maybe eskbanker would like to answer that. (They are usually called CTAs (Consolidated Tax Advices.)

But it sounds as though ITI have said that they will be providing you with one and if you have confirmation of that (e.g. a recorded telephone conversation) then I'd say that is good enough to establish an obligation.

HMRC will, I think, accept a CTA to support your tax return.

If the figures on the CTA don't agree with the dividends that you should have received then it will still be your responsibility to make sure you pay the right amount of tax.

I'd asked HMRC if from their point of view a stockbroker was obliged to provide a CTA but didn't get a straight answer. Have a go yourself - https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/customerforums/

For some it might be a mute point as they don't pay further tax on dividends anyway.
I think that a lot of us were receiving dividends from foreign companies in GBP whilst at SVS but they were switched to USD / EUR during the move to ITI. That enabled ITI to charge us for conversions from USD / EUR to GBP and it is possible that some dividends were not received at all and probable that there were some shortfalls in the amounts. There are also possible problems with withholding tax etc.
If you need a tax accountant to sort out any mess caused by ITI then I'd argue that they should pay for the cost of the tax accountant. (Good tax accountants have access to software which will automatically calculate the correct dividend payments.)

eskbanker

RasputinB said:
Is there any obligation for ITI to supply us with a Tax Certificate? 

Maybe eskbanker would like to answer that.

I don't claim to be an expert on taxation legislation (or anything else for that matter!) but always understood that any company or nominee paying dividends does need to provide a tax certificate to the investor - a search just now unearths some references that I believe may be relevant (but happy to be corrected if not):

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/investment-funds/ifm14292 (specifically relates to ITs but links to the below, which I think covers all investments)

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/4/part/23/chapter/6/crossheading/companies-and-nominees-required-to-provide-tax-certificates

My2penneth

My residual shares in one company that were sitting in my QORT account have gone AWOL ...again.! 

This time, I've emailedITI and copied it to the case officer at the FOS (quoting the FOS case number) and I also highlight that ITI have not responded to the FOS letters. 

johnburman

You should get more than £300 comp from the FOS.  Claim the full costs of the 'missing' shares as your loss.  This would be a good time to sue them though.  You have this day suffered an actual loss [value of the shares].  But a broker 'losing' shares from their platform is the nightmare that any investor fears.  The FCA must be interested in this, even if they are 'found' later.

eskbanker

johnburman said:

You should get more than £300 comp from the FOS.  Claim the full costs of the 'missing' shares as your loss.  This would be a good time to sue them though.  You have this day suffered an actual loss [value of the shares].  But a broker 'losing' shares from their platform is the nightmare that any investor fears.  The FCA must be interested in this, even if they are 'found' later.

Conscious that you're increasingly trigger-happy with other people's time and money but IMHO it would be a huge overreaction to leap to court at this stage for something which is in all likelihood yet another example of ITI's system/admin weaknesses!  Sure, if ITI are unable to locate the shares and unwilling to reimburse the account holder for both their value and any demonstrable opportunity cost, then that would undoubtedly warrant stronger action, but at this stage the complaint to ITI and updating of FOS seems an entirely appropriate and proportionate response....

My2penneth

I took a snapshot of the screen for proof that the shares have disappeared and emailed ITI (with a copy to the FOS).

However, I've just logged on and the value is now reinstated. Why do they disappear from time to time (it's not the first time that the shares have gone awol only to return).

Thrugelmir

My2penneth said:

However, I've just logged on and the value is now reinstated. Why do they disappear from time to time (it's not the first time that the shares have gone awol only to return).

Be an internal system issue. The shares haven't gone anywhere. Screen displays are just screen displays. 

johnburman

I'm sure it is an internal systems error, not that either of us know for sure, but you are the client and the account provided by your broker is wrong. it should not happen. 

I think the FCA should be told too. If this affects you how many other clients are also affected? And is it systemic or just a one off. I'm thinking of the subpostmasters legal case 

RasputinB

My2penneth said:

My residual shares in one company that were sitting in my QORT account have gone AWOL ...again.! 

The regulated activities of ITI Capital include safeguarding and administering of investments and in accordance with CASS rules they will need to regularly reconcile custody assets.

Maybe it would be a good idea to ask ITI Capital to confirm that they actually have your shares in custody?