Do trading platforms provide all the information required for self assessment like CGT calculation?

expansion

I have used most of the big names like HL, AJ Bell and ii before but only for tax wrapper accounts where there are no tax implications and any documents they have provided like annual portfolio reviews haven't shown tax liability calculations. With a trading account do I have to track buy and sell activity and calculate by hand CGT and dividends or do these platforms provide a simple report at the end of the tax year? Dividends aren't difficult to do manually but it can get tricky calculating CGT when I buy multiple tranches at different prices and sell in different sizes or for certain type of funds.

dunstonh

With a trading account do I have to track buy and sell activity and calculate by hand CGT and dividends or do these platforms provide a simple report at the end of the tax year?

Yes.  They all supply the required info.

EthicsGradient

"With a trading account do I have to track buy and sell activity and calculate by hand CGT and dividends" - with ii, yes. When I used HL for a trading account, I don't think it produced a CGT report. I'm unaware of AJBell doing one either. The thing is, your CGT liability is complicated  - the platforms don't know if you also own the same investments on other platforms, or as paper certificates, too. Without that, all they could say is "we know you sold some of this investment in the past year - if your holding with us was all you ever bought or sold in it, then here's what the gain for what you sold was".

ColdIron

expansion said:

I have used most of the big names like HL, AJ Bell and ii before but only for tax wrapper accounts where there are no tax implications and any documents they have provided like annual portfolio reviews haven't shown tax liability calculations.

That's right because 'there are no tax implications'

With a trading account do I have to track buy and sell activity and calculate by hand CGT

Yes

and dividends

No (although they may play a part in your CGT calculations)

or do these platforms provide a simple report at the end of the tax year?

Yes, for dividends and interest you will get an annual Consolidated Tax Certificate detailing all you need for income. But in my experience it is insufficient for Capital Gains

hoc

I had read somewhere, possibly on this forum, that all the big name platforms use one of two backend reporting systems to achieve this. I'm surprised CGT isn't included.

msallen

hoc said:

I'm surprised CGT isn't included.

The platform has no knowledge of any other purchases/sales you may have made on other platforms, so cannot calculate your CGT liability. The best it can do is provide details of all your trades on their platform.

dunstonh

hoc said:

I had read somewhere, possibly on this forum, that all the big name platforms use one of two backend reporting systems to achieve this. I'm surprised CGT isn't included.

The two biggest software suppliers have 7 out of 10 of the biggest platforms apparantly.

Both of those software suppliers have CGT reporting functionality.  It requires the platform provider to enable it and use the data in a way they wish via the front end.    On the intermediary side, every platform has CGT reports of varying quality.  However, I suspect that a number of DIY platforms would not like to issue those out of fears of liability.   However, they do supply the unit purchase data, and it won't take you long with a spreadsheet to get what you need.

hoc

msallen said:

hoc said:

I'm surprised CGT isn't included.

The platform has no knowledge of any other purchases/sales you may have made on other platforms, so cannot calculate your CGT liability. The best it can do is provide details of all your trades on their platform.

I'm not familiar with CGT rules and strategies so I presume you are getting at some scenarios where allowances are used in a way they shouldn't be through loss or buying back. If not, the expectation is simply the platform calculates the CGT liability for the accounts on that particular platform much like banks report saving interest for the accounts you hold with that bank, it would then be your responsibility to do the sums.

hoc

dunstonh said:

hoc said:

I had read somewhere, possibly on this forum, that all the big name platforms use one of two backend reporting systems to achieve this. I'm surprised CGT isn't included.

The two biggest software suppliers have 7 out of 10 of the biggest platforms apparantly.

Both of those software suppliers have CGT reporting functionality.  It requires the platform provider to enable it and use the data in a way they wish via the front end.    On the intermediary side, every platform has CGT reports of varying quality.  However, I suspect that a number of DIY platforms would not like to issue those out of fears of liability.   However, they do supply the unit purchase data, and it won't take you long with a spreadsheet to get what you need.

Can you name platforms? I don't know which platforms wouldn't be seen as "not DIY".

EdSwippet

hoc said:
I'm not familiar with CGT rules and strategies so I presume you are getting at some scenarios where allowances are used in a way they shouldn't be through loss or buying back. If not, the expectation is simply the platform calculates the CGT liability for the accounts on that particular platform much like banks report saving interest for the accounts you hold with that bank, it would then be your responsibility to do the sums.

Not that simple, unfortunately. The CGT rules require you to "pool" all your holdings of a given share. Your basis is the total cost of that pool. If you have a pool of holdings of a given share split across two or more platforms, neither platform knows about the other.

Simple example. You buy 100 shares of company X on platform A, cost £100. You later buy 100 shares of company X on platform B, cost £200. You hold 200 shares at a cost of £300, so £1.50/share. You then sell your 100 shares on platform A for £400. Your realised capital gain is 100 * (£4 - £1.50) = £250. However, platform A knows nothing about your holding on platform B, and so cannot give you that information. And giving you instead the numbers as if it were your only holding of company X could be highly misleading.

Albermarle

hoc said:

dunstonh said:

hoc said:

I had read somewhere, possibly on this forum, that all the big name platforms use one of two backend reporting systems to achieve this. I'm surprised CGT isn't included.

The two biggest software suppliers have 7 out of 10 of the biggest platforms apparantly.

Both of those software suppliers have CGT reporting functionality.  It requires the platform provider to enable it and use the data in a way they wish via the front end.    On the intermediary side, every platform has CGT reports of varying quality.  However, I suspect that a number of DIY platforms would not like to issue those out of fears of liability.   However, they do supply the unit purchase data, and it won't take you long with a spreadsheet to get what you need.

Can you name platforms? I don't know which platforms wouldn't be seen as "not DIY".

There are a lot of platforms that only work with financial advisors, and will not deal directly with the public.