Santander Shares and my tax return

ColdIron wrote: »

Hard to say without knowing what they cost. You are liable to Capital Gains Tax on the gain, basically the difference between the cost of acquisition and the sale value. You have an £11,300 allowance so if this covers your gain there is no tax to pay

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-capital-gains-tax/capital-gains-tax-rates-and-annual-tax-free-allowances

The shares were obtained by having a bank account with Abby National, so they cost nothing. I suppose it would be easier to sort this out whilst my mother is alive.

Bumping this old thread again.

I have just sold my santander shares. I have been advised that because the price per share is currently below the price at the takeover of Alliance & Leicester by Banco Santander, there is no need to fill in the dreaded Form 210 and therefore no need for the HMRC certificate of residency in UK either. I'm so glad to have sold at a loss!

Apparently the shares being free in the first place doesn't matter, it's the price at the takeover date which is used to calculate profit or loss.

I have Santander shares - I had no idea about any of this! I've had them since I was a baby when they gave them out as Abbey National shares, they were in my dad's name and he transferred them to me once I was 18. I've been thinking recently about selling them and re-investing the money in a normal mutual fund as my dividends are so paltry (I use the DRIP scheme and get 1 extra share a quarter, ish.)

So - what do I do? What is this form malarkey all about? My shares are worth £500 if that. Can I 'transfer' into a fund or do I literally have to sell for cash and then invest in something new?

Also, what would happen hypothetically if you sold your shares and ignored/didn't know about this weird Spanish declaration thing?

Yes, I know nothing about shares either. I've had these since they were issued by Alliance & Leicester. Never bought a share in my life. I had 124 shares, sold for £3.99 each. I think the price is even lower now! (£3.92 as I type this) According to info on the Spanish Tax Forms website you only pay Spanish taxes if you have profited i.e. if the price per share has increased since takeover of A&L by Banco Santander. I phoned the Spanish Tax Forms website (spanishtaxforms dot co dot uk, I cannot post links) to check and they said no need for a 210 form and the whole rigmarole, if selling at a loss, which I was not aware of before. The figure you need to sell below is given on the Spanish Shares section of the website. Best to be below the lowest figure - something about whether rights were taken up or not, I haven't a clue whether I did that but probably not. The contact details are on the website.
Then I had to sell on the Santander Nominee Service website which was a nerve racking as I'm a bit slow, and there are a few screens to get through, but the helpline was useful. You have to register there first if not already registered, to create a Santander Shareview Portfolio. You need your "corporate sponsored nominee" or CSN number which is on paperwork from santander, also called the share reference number - an 11 digit number. And your national insurance number and the usual name, address, bank details. I haven't sold shares before. It was time consuming but I feel I have got my life back at last. Phew! sorry if this is a bit confusing. It is slightly different if you have a share certificate than if you have a CSN number but still done on the Santander Nominee Service.

rosygale wrote: »

Bumping this old thread again.

I have just sold my santander shares. I have been advised that because the price per share is currently below the price at the takeover of Alliance & Leicester by Banco Santander, there is no need to fill in the dreaded Form 210 and therefore no need for the HMRC certificate of residency in UK either. I'm so glad to have sold at a loss!

Apparently the shares being free in the first place doesn't matter, it's the price at the takeover date which is used to calculate profit or loss.

It depends whether you are looking at British or Spanish tax.

For UK capital gains tax it would be calculated on the difference between the original cost (zero) and the price sold. However in practice for the vast majority this will be below the capital gains tax threshold anyway so there will be nothing to pay.

For Spanish tax what happened when it was Alliance & Leicester is irrelevant as it wasn't a Spanish company at that point. So the profit would be calculated based on the price at the takeover date as that was when you started holding Spanish shares.