Interactive Investor transfers

Henrta

My father recently had his shares transferred to Interactive Investor from the Share Centre. He is wanting to transfer the shares over to an account in my name and also to keep it somewhere other than a place like the II which seems to charge a flat rate even if you are just holding onto the shares and doing no trading. Where would be the best place to open up an account that the II would have no issues transferring the shares over to?
Thanks

EthicsGradient

The first thing to remember is you can't do this if the shares are inside an ISA.

If you live at the same address as your father, you'd be able to open an account with II, transfer them across internally to II, and then open your own account wherever you want to keep them in the long term and transfer between your 2 accounts.

A quick search for other platforms that will transfer shares between family members shows AJ Bell say they  do it too (but note that II's restriction on living at the same address only became apparent when I logged into my account to check; you'd need to check with AJ Bell whether they have the same limitation). Their charges are 0.25% of the value of shares per year, up to a maximum of £3.50 per month. That would mean your father opening an account with them, transferring his II account across to it, you opening an account with them too, and then doing the transfer.

It also appears that Hargraves Lansdown will do transfers of shares between linked accounts - see https://www.hl.co.uk/help/managing-your-online-account/preferences-and-settings/linked-accounts/can-i-transfer-investments-to-a-linked-account and https://www.hl.co.uk/help#managing-your-online-account/preferences-and-settings/linked-accounts/how-do-i-add-a-linked-account . And they don't charge for holding shares (including investment trusts and ETFs), outside an ISA (they do for OEICs, however).

I expect II would not transfer directly from an account in your father's name to one in yours at a different provider (I wanted to donate shares to a charity, and II said I had to do that by transferring them outside my account to a paper certificate, and then doing a 'traditional' paper transfer; II's fee for that is £42 inc. VAT, which almost certainly makes it not worth it, compared to the simple solution of your father selling the shares and giving you the money. For the record, II haven't, so far, taken that fee, in a few months, possibly because I had already said it was for giving to a charity. Or I've got lucky with an admin mistake.)

eskbanker

Deleted_User said:

Be aware that transferring shares into your name could make your father liable to pay some Capital Gains Tax. A gift is treated, for CGT purposes, as a disposal at the current market value of the shares. Though there would be nothing due if the shares are worth less than £12,300 (and if your father makes no other disposals in the same tax year).

And for the benefit of those not familiar with CGT, it's measured on gains rather than disposal values, so the value at transfer could be well in excess of £12,300 without incurring CGT, provided the variance from acquisition cost is below that figure....

Henrta

Thanks for the replies, can anybody suggest somewhere where I can keep the shares for the lowest fee (preferably without charge) as we both have no interest investing right now, only holding the shares. Would banks be able to do this?
If I transferred it to a joint account between myself and my father would that bypass any capital gains tax or any other tax?

Henrta

I know EthicsGradient suggested Hargraves Lansdown but is there anywhere else suggested I can check out as an alternative or as I said with banks from familiarity with them.

masonic

What about Jarvis X-O? It does depend what the shares are, not all brokers will hold shares from every market.

It is generally best to steer clear of banks when it comes to investments.

Eco_Miser

If you walk into a bank and say you want to use their investment service they will happily charge you £££s.

If you go online to one of Halifax Share Dealing Ltd's price differentiated brands (Iweb, Halifax, Lloyds & BOS), you might find something to suit.

https://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/ is a list of the best brokers by price for various situations.

If you just want to hold shares long term, paper certificates have no ongoing costs, but check the fees to convert to paper.

Henrta

If I used a joint account would that bypass the Capital gains tax or any other problems of a simple transfer?

eskbanker

Henrta said:

If I used a joint account would that bypass the Capital gains tax or any other problems of a simple transfer?

If the value of the shares causes CGT concerns (does it?) then the transfer could be staged across multiple tax years in order to avoid his liability.  If you're not already using your annual ISA allowance then you might consider putting up to £20K worth per tax year into a S&S ISA, which will eliminate future CGT liability for you too....

Henrta

Thank you for your time and answers