Capital Gains on Company Shares

JillyJompy

Hi,

I recently sold company shares which have matured after purchase in 2020.

The shares have a capital gain of approximately £6,200 and i was hoping that, as my wife contributed to the purchase with me, we could utilise both of our CGT allowance for this tax year. I have however been told that because the shares are only in my name (no option otherwise as its a share scheme) that there is not an opportunity to utilise both of our allowances for the 2025/26 tax year - is this correct?

I did contact HMRC who has confirmed this, but would like to sanity check this response with the knowledgeable people on this forum

Thanks in advance.

wmb194

JillyJompy said:

Hi,

I recently sold company shares which have matured after purchase in 2020.

The shares have a capital gain of approximately £6,200 and i was hoping that, as my wife contributed to the purchase with me, we could utilise both of our CGT allowance for this tax year. I have however been told that because the shares are only in my name (no option otherwise as its a share scheme) that there is not an opportunity to utilise both of our allowances for the 2025/26 tax year - is this correct?

I did contact HMRC who has confirmed this, but would like to sanity check this response with the knowledgeable people on this forum

Thanks in advance.

The trick would have been to transfer some of the shares into your wife’s name before you sold them.

When did you sell them? Was it more than 30 days ago? Due to the ‘bed and breakfasting’ rules there might be a way to effectively unwind the trade by buying them back within 30 days, transfer some to your wife and then sell them again. Other forum members might be able to comment on the validity of this idea.