SHARES AND COSTS

JJDragonLivigno

For shares (bought outside an ISA)
1. Is there a time limit for putting costs incurred in buying them against capital gains?
2. If shares have been consolidated at a certain point in time and the owner received a certain number of shares plus a cash sum - can the costs before this point be put against capital gains on selling them if they were not put against tax for the capital gains when the owner received the cash sum years before? Or can you no longer put any costs incurred before the consolidation + cash sum date?
3. Am I right in thinking that if you have say £1000 of shares to sell in different companies and you have made loss on some and profit on others and the net gain is zero - there is no capital gains tax to pay?
4. For employee share plans - for probate for the employee (deceased) - is it better to sell them in that persons name (to make use of the fact that they have already paid tax on the monetary value of those shares) or does it make any difference if they are put into the spouses name?  Is there still tax (capital gains) to pay on selling them (as the spouse did not pay tax on them - but received them on death of spouse).  The value of them was declared in probate which is now been received.

thanks for any help,
JJ

JJDragonLivigno

Hi - can anyone help me with this?
thanks,
JJ

lozzy1965

JJDragonLivigno said:

For shares (bought outside an ISA)
1. Is there a time limit for putting costs incurred in buying them against capital gains?
2. If shares have been consolidated at a certain point in time and the owner received a certain number of shares plus a cash sum - can the costs before this point be put against capital gains on selling them if they were not put against tax for the capital gains when the owner received the cash sum years before? Or can you no longer put any costs incurred before the consolidation + cash sum date?
3. Am I right in thinking that if you have say £1000 of shares to sell in different companies and you have made loss on some and profit on others and the net gain is zero - there is no capital gains tax to pay?
4. For employee share plans - for probate for the employee (deceased) - is it better to sell them in that persons name (to make use of the fact that they have already paid tax on the monetary value of those shares) or does it make any difference if they are put into the spouses name?  Is there still tax (capital gains) to pay on selling them (as the spouse did not pay tax on them - but received them on death of spouse).  The value of them was declared in probate which is now been received.

thanks for any help,
JJ

1.  Capital Gains tax applies only when you sell the shares.  It is against the profit made (ie. Amount gained after selling less cost after buying).
2.  You need to work out how much the shares you are left with cost, to be able to work out the capital gain.
3.  Yes, you can offset capital losses against capital gains - all in the same tax year of course.
4.  I'll leave other more knowledgeable people to answer this point!

Here's a useful link posted in another thread:
https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax

Keep_pedalling

JJDragonLivigno said:

For shares (bought outside an ISA)

3. Am I right in thinking that if you have say £1000 of shares to sell in different companies and you have made loss on some and profit on others and the net gain is zero - there is no capital gains tax to pay?
4. For employee share plans - for probate for the employee (deceased) - is it better to sell them in that persons name (to make use of the fact that they have already paid tax on the monetary value of those shares) or does it make any difference if they are put into the spouses name?  Is there still tax (capital gains) to pay on selling them (as the spouse did not pay tax on them - but received them on death of spouse).  The value of them was declared in probate which is now been received.

thanks for any help,
JJ

3. Any tax paid would be on your net gain, which in your example would be £0. But you also need to take into account your annual allowance. If your gain is below that (currently £12,300) there would still be no tax to pay.

4. In the case of dying any gain is wiped out, and the clock starts from the date of death, although if the estate was large enough it would be subject to IHT. If the beneficiary wants to keep the shares then transfer them, otherwise the executor can sell them and pass on the proceeds.

JJDragonLivigno

Thanks all!
JJ