Just sold my shares

sufisu

I hope this is the right board for my question to be answered. I had some shares which were given to all employees as an annual bonus and they were worth approx £20K before the bottom fell out of the IT market. These were held in an E-Trade account in the US. I've just sold them for a little over £6K (lousy price but I can't see them going up any time soon and I need a new bathroom). When the funds actually reach my bank account, I intend to put £3,200 into my ISA but could someone tell me whether I'm liable to pay tax on this money. I have owned the shares for over 6 years. I'll be seriously miffed if the Government wants a cut given that they've dropped in value by about a third since they were given to me!

consumer

sufisu wrote: »

I hope this is the right board for my question to be answered. I had some shares which were given to all employees as an annual bonus and they were worth approx £20K before the bottom fell out of the IT market. These were held in an E-Trade account in the US. I've just sold them for a little over £6K (lousy price but I can't see them going up any time soon and I need a new bathroom). When the funds actually reach my bank account, I intend to put £3,200 into my ISA but could someone tell me whether I'm liable to pay tax on this money. I have owned the shares for over 6 years. I'll be seriously miffed if the Government wants a cut given that they've dropped in value by about a third since they were given to me!

If I remember rightly, you pay tax only after certain amount of capital gains. Since in your case, you did not have any capital gains from your investment, I think it does not apply.

earlgrey_3

If they were given as a bonus then presumably you were taxed on them as income at the time. You're then only taxed on the capital gain when you sell and you have an annual exemption, for 2008-9 it's £9600, before you need to pay anything anyway. If the shares are worth less now than when you were given them then you've made a loss, not a gain.

simonleblank

Juist being nosey, why are you paying £3,200 into your ISA? you can pay £3,600 this year if you want to

sufisu

Juist being nosey, why are you paying £3,200 into your ISA? you can pay £3,600 this year if you want to

The reason I'm only paying in £3200 into my ISA is that I have £400 in my Egg ISA already this year.

Thanks for your replies. It's good to know that at least I don't have to lose any more money than I already have.