Tax on shares short term gain less than 12 months

Jac96

Hello, 
I have shares which have been purchased anywhere from 8months to 1 month ago. I am thinking of selling some of them as I have made some good gains (Less than the £12,300 CGT Limit) 

I know in USA they have short term capital gains tax. Is there anything like this in the UK where I might have to pay income tax because I haven't held the shares for very long? Or can I utilise my CGT Limit even though it's quite a short term trade? 

Thank you, 

eskbanker

In the UK, CGT is applied in the same way regardless of whether assets are owned for a minute or a decade, and there are no time-dependent taxes to consider....

Jac96

Excellent, thank you for your help Estbanker! 

Ceme3000

There's just a few rules on how you calculate the gain if you re-purchase the same share within 30 days of selling.

Old_Lifer

When  CGT was first introduced  (1965? ) there were indeed two rates.     A higher rate was imposed on gains made within  12 months of acquisition.    The gain was added to income which meant that with the standard  rate of tax at  8s 3d   in the £  (there was no lower rate of income tax),    a  standard rate taxpayer would pay  41.25p in the pound  in  tax   on a short term gain  and a higher rate tax payer would pay even more.  There was no capital gains allowance in those days.

In the late 1960's   I made a  paper gain  of  60+ percent  on one of my unit trust investments which  I had only purchased  about 8 months earlier.  Since I did not wish to pay nearly half  the gain in tax,  I  decided to wait  until  the 12 months was up before selling.  That was a bad decision .   At the end of the 12 month period  the price had fallen  and the gain was reduced to  just a few percent.

That taught me what I have often heard from time to time.  ' Don't let the tax tail wag the investment dog'  and  ' no one ever went bust taking a profit'.