Re-gifting of assets between spouses

PeterPhillip29_12

A while ago I gifted my portfolio of shares to my wife. I'd like to put the shares in a SIPP back under my name. Can she just gift them back to me?

km1500

Anyone can gift anyone else whatever they want in this country. So, yes

MDMD

km1500 said:

Anyone can gift anyone else whatever they want in this country. So, yes

For tax purposes a transfer between spouses is at nil gain nil loss. Although for transfers to anyone else gifts are deemed to be at market value.

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/capital-gains-manual/cg14530

km1500

agreed but there is no.prohibition on the transfer

Keep_pedalling

km1500 said:

agreed but there is no.prohibition on the transfer

That depends on the OPs wife 😈

Malthusian

Yes she can. Getting the shares into the SIPP is the tricky bit as you are restricted by the Annual Allowance and earned income in the tax year (for personal contributions).

Notepad_Phil

PeterPhillip29_12 said:

A while ago I gifted my portfolio of shares to my wife. I'd like to put the shares in a SIPP back under my name. Can she just gift them back to me?

She can, but you will be responsible for any capital gains due from when you originally bought them until the time you sell them to put into the sipp. I.e. it's not from the time that your wife gifts them back.

So if capital gains is going to be an issue for you then it may be better for your wife to sell some of the shares to use up her CGT allowance and then to gift the money to you.

dunstonh

PeterPhillip29_12 said:

A while ago I gifted my portfolio of shares to my wife. I'd like to put the shares in a SIPP back under my name. Can she just gift them back to me?

Are the shares held in any tax wrapper by your wife?

EthicsGradient

Do many SIPPs allow the transfer in of shares (apart from those already in a pension)? At the least, they'd need a valuation process to tie it in with your annual limit. This, from 2020, looks worrying:

https://www.freeths.co.uk/2020/06/08/dont-do-as-we-say-or-as-we-do/

dunstonh

EthicsGradient said:

Do many SIPPs allow the transfer in of shares (apart from those already in a pension)? At the least, they'd need a valuation process to tie it in with your annual limit. This, from 2020, looks worrying:

https://www.freeths.co.uk/2020/06/08/dont-do-as-we-say-or-as-we-do/

No.  You cannot transfer money between people when it is held in a pension  (you would need to draw it as income).  Hence why I asked if the wife has the money in a tax wrapper as the answer to that will vary the correct response.

EthicsGradient

dunstonh said:

EthicsGradient said:

Do many SIPPs allow the transfer in of shares (apart from those already in a pension)? At the least, they'd need a valuation process to tie it in with your annual limit. This, from 2020, looks worrying:

https://www.freeths.co.uk/2020/06/08/dont-do-as-we-say-or-as-we-do/

No.  You cannot transfer money between people when it is held in a pension  (you would need to draw it as income).  Hence why I asked if the wife has the money in a tax wrapper as the answer to that will vary the correct response.

I wasn't thinking of whether she still had ownership, but the implication of the OP is they don't want to sell them at any point. Even if he successfully takes back ownership of them, the link seems to say that HMRC has successfully challenged the transfer of shares into a SIPP from outside another pension for the same person.