Solar or ripple wind farm

barker77

Hi

About to start looking  into this. Other than the uncertainty about paying tax on ripple are there additional benefits to going solar vs ripple? 

QrizB

It's all a bit swings and roundabouts.

• Solar - you own it, you maintain it, you manage it. You need a suitable roof/garden/whatever. You can switch suppliers freely but you can't move home with it. You can use it as part of a larger system (with batteries, solar diverters, smart EV chagers etc). With some additional expenditure you can use it to keep the juice flowing during a power cut.
  
• Ripple - you own a share but it's hands-off, as it's managed and maintained for you. You're limited in your choice of supplier but can take it with you when you move. You can have it even if you live in a flat.

If you can afford it, have both - they're complementary.

barker77

Can’t afford both currently - it’s a shame that ripple is tied to currently just one supplier and the tax implications with ripple concerns me so hoping hmrc confirm the position on this! 

thevilla

As I understand it, tax is only payble if you're already paying tax on bank / BS interest so are exceeding that allowance.

As for can't afford both, Ripple has a minimum £25 "investment".  They do advise it is not an investment, it is primarily a route to lower your carbon footprint.

Petriix

Ripple have multiple suppliers lined up. As it stands, Octopus is an ideal fit for me. Let's hope they stay competitive for the next 25 years! 

barker77

thevilla said:

As I understand it, tax is only payble if you're already paying tax on bank / BS interest so are exceeding that allowance.

As for can't afford both, Ripple has a minimum £25 "investment".  They do advise it is not an investment, it is primarily a route to lower your carbon footprint.

I don’t think that’s been confirmed by hmrc as I understand it ? 

barker77

Is anyone able to confirm what the tax status is btw? 

Verdigris

If you don't pay any you won't pay any. (covers me, at least, as an OAP)

QrizB

barker77 said:

Is anyone able to confirm what the tax status is btw? 

There are some words regarding tax in the Ripple proposal document.

No-one had received a payment yet so no-one has any practical experience.

Exiled_Tyke

This is what the latest share offer document says.

"From a tax perspective the trading benefit (but not the repayment of share capital) is treated as interest. It will count towards your annual interest allowance, which means you may need to declare it as part of your tax return. Ripple will provide a breakdown of your savings on your customer dashboard indicating the level of trading benefit each year." 

It is a very strange set up. I've never come across the term 'trading benefit' before in this context. And I don't understand why the income is paid as interest rather than dividends. 

Any way basic rate tax payers have an annual interest allowance of £1,000 whilst higher rater tax payers are only allowed £500.   Of course things like interest from an ISA don't count towards this allowance. So unless you have vast amounts of savings in non-ISA accounts earning pots of interest this shouldn't be a problem for most people.  Although anyone needing to submit tax returns will need to include the interest on the form. 

1961Nick

A couple could split the investment & increase the allowance to £2000.