How to establish share cost for CGT purposes?

benny5

This may appear complex, hence the request for guidance.

I acquired some shares in 1999 as part of an acquisition of part of a company I held shares in (The value of my original holding was obviously devalued at the time).

I am now looking to sell the acquired shares, however, I’m unsure as to what share price can now be attributed to these for CGT purposes.

I can see get historical prices on line for the time in question, but, can I use these or is this one for HMRC?

eskbanker

There should have been some sort of explanation about tax implications within the acquisition documentation - which company is it?

benny5

eskbanker said:

There should have been some sort of explanation about tax implications within the acquisition documentation - which company is it?

After 25 years all I've got are the share certs. It was Marconi Electronic Systems (part of GEC as was) sale to BAE.

Woodstok2000

benny5 said:

This may appear complex, hence the request for guidance.

I acquired some shares in 1999 as part of an acquisition of part of a company I held shares in (The value of my original holding was obviously devalued at the time).

I am now looking to sell the acquired shares, however, I’m unsure as to what share price can now be attributed to these for CGT purposes.

I can see get historical prices on line for the time in question, but, can I use these or is this one for HMRC?

When you say 'acquired', did you buy them or were they given to you at no cost?

What happened to your original share holding, do you still have it along with the new shares?

Are all your shares now in the same company, or do you have shares in 2 different companies (as you say it was a part-acquisition)?

benny5

When you say 'acquired', did you buy them or were they given to you at no cost?
Part of the original business was sold and therefore my holding was devalued. So the cost could be considered as the loss of value in the original holding.

What happened to your original share holding, do you still have it along with the new shares?
The company failed miserably (Marconi), total loss of all investments.

Are all your shares now in the same company, or do you have shares in 2 different companies (as you say it was a part-acquisition)? 
The Marconi shares were a total wright off and all that remains are the ones I am looking to sell.

Woodstok2000

369p looks to be the most appropriate price:

https://investors.baesystems.com/shareholder-faqs

But maybe you can contact the broker and see?

This article might be helpful too as it goes into some detail on various other complications (like dividend reinvestments):

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/diyinvesting/article-13792145/Im-45-given-BAE-shares-child-worth-7-000-work-capital-gains-tax.html

benny5

Woodstok2000 said:

369p looks to be the most appropriate price:

https://investors.baesystems.com/shareholder-faqs

But maybe you can contact the broker and see?

This article might be helpful too as it goes into some detail on various other complications (like dividend reinvestments):

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/diyinvesting/article-13792145/Im-45-given-BAE-shares-child-worth-7-000-work-capital-gains-tax.html

Thank you. Really appreciate your input.

wmb194

benny5 said:

This may appear complex, hence the request for guidance.

I acquired some shares in 1999 as part of an acquisition of part of a company I held shares in (The value of my original holding was obviously devalued at the time).

I am now looking to sell the acquired shares, however, I’m unsure as to what share price can now be attributed to these for CGT purposes.

I can see get historical prices on line for the time in question, but, can I use these or is this one for HMRC?

Do you know what you paid for your GEC shares? It should be some percentage of that value but I'm finding it hard to find the details of the split from GEC's perspective.

GEC shares acquisition value * 0.424 might give you the base cost? This assumes the drop in the value of GEC shares following the demerger was proportionate but I don't know.

Looks like you received some "CALS" as well: these look like some sort of amortising debenture that ran for four years.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01470151/filing-history?page=124

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-live.ch.gov.uk/docs/ZTdTSzmE4MIy17of-4rF71aIbLZDmZz_Jeh-XquFal8/application-pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAWRGBDBV3FWJ6KFYU%2F20260112%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20260112T172033Z&X-Amz-Expires=60&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjECUaCWV1LXdlc3QtMiJHMEUCIEn3hR5%2B3hui%2BSuaik72VNH%2FNKoW%2F1hJ3E3hproAZAL4AiEAxtk2eJQ0TprQIp0XKNk4rR4nSAYT%2FNmr%2BnKqE%2BWEPCIqigQI7v%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FARAFGgw0NDkyMjkwMzI4MjIiDOOpepRhGAxU%2FnB9kyreA%2BEmACvyOVZhjqcQWVUUjZlPveBzfV%2BWDcBDdO65cLBbtZs9XuApO993yXWZmXuZDkKuz8LOK2FlF3tTLVmifG%2Blj8FQzYziSlWC75%2F%2BUVe7tLdOK%2FwhUp4rr44En%2FMWyOd9%2BqR4k%2Bu0xO2NOsdA28nOsXtCXFDHfV8osfYh5afM6mVL4e2QxWaYlEq4nlrExau%2B3PZSCHMQVDSCrxlzXGrJSvHVz4TPdArbUco1jzzwkGEp%2F9NRtPi35JgTrg6xtcPVTZBaLSmPox%2F0%2B3%2BJAaaMAh8bW%2F%2BY%2Fh0y%2B0H8gacNLMU3CZ2nUhZ68cU%2F%2BDhD6a8w0QuEUoKkyX8jkGmq5VKh8K9%2BQBuvROGu3KCfBuoFpYdsQqmcp9%2FgaDCCqxew3FAeqC5CD1DTmc8gthsB7lvmaOMD1w2Uny3paurDFVd7ShMudeCaDPEJACxU7Gpln09t8W%2BzFessGYbC4NrRy9iLgLWDtXiUagmKiOic6NmFE8v2mEHTdmczhT8jYdSdJeXC7AqbCQjvzW7BOb%2BU4ZFsHbFcdpHmEGUc1PYLwm7bqIvyxn8sY8kUblC6fUT8omRnVfzBtQ5exzMrykwXDzsbnn0qiSWe2quTx5sEGJw6UpTg7rJLKqlUJP2cp4Uwj96TywY6pQE8pP78UGZ37dCBRmZa1yXiIIVNK3TeeFL4iqaPujeY8PlszlhRxYkxRoUMs6qpxf7f1z7%2FRitWlkuBhCpMZKUw1GKOyOkTG1FyFBoKOg553eurU%2FS7dpOrjoaTAORYtKkYq%2FjE9r6U9%2BTqnqXPoaljSvnr4nFNT5aFfD0VDKaaDSZ6b%2FQMrQZWBr3uvQLHdDBK5xNF3PnN%2Blu%2F8LAOQm%2FQfwAy618%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=inline%3Bfilename%3D%22companies_house_document.pdf%22&X-Amz-Signature=8503ecaec2a21f8b44cf11ebceeaff633841aba8f1f80a10c964ee1d6667ab98

benny5

As the original shares were purchased in the late 1980’s early 1990’s is there an expectation on the part of HMRC to keep records going back 40 years?

To compound the problem the original company has gone through a series of mergers/demergers including GEC, GEC-AEI, GEC-Plessey, Marconi and what is now left BAE.

This is becoming a total nightmare.

 

DRS1

benny5 said:

As the original shares were purchased in the late 1980’s early 1990’s is there an expectation on the part of HMRC to keep records going back 40 years?

To compound the problem the original company has gone through a series of mergers/demergers including GEC, GEC-AEI, GEC-Plessey, Marconi and what is now left BAE.

This is becoming a total nightmare.

 

Yes.

One approach might be to sell only £3k worth of the shares each tax year so you know you are under the CGT allowance and shouldn't need to report anything on your tax return (assuming it is your only CGT disposal).

benny5

In the absence of anything definitive I'm minded to go with this suggestion;

Woodstok2000 said:

369p looks to be the most appropriate price:

https://investors.baesystems.com/shareholder-faqs

But maybe you can contact the broker and see?