Dividends

It doesn't matter what account they are paid into. If the shares are in *your* name, the dividends are *yours* and you can't magically get twice the dividend allowance by paying them into an account that happens to belong to two people. It would be like saying your wife only has £1000 of income this year and you earn £22500 salary so you'll pay it all into a joint bank account and magically get to use two full personal allowances on the whole lot so that it's all tax free.

So, if they are your shares you get to use your dividend allowance. If the shares belong to your partner, spouse or trusted friend, they get to use their dividend allowance, and you don't get to use yours.

*If* the shares belong to both of you equally (i.e. they are in joint names), the dividends from those shares that you jointly own will belong to each of you 50/50, and you can use your £2000 allowance against your half and they can use their £2000 allowance against their half.


If the shares belong only to you, but you want to use two dividend allowances against the income from them, one option is to transfer half of the shares to the other person before the ex-dividend date for the shares, and then when the dividends are paid, half the total dividends will be yours and half would the dividends would be theirs, just like the ownership split, and then the two of you can each use your allowances on your respective shares. Regardless of whether the dividends are paid into your two personal accounts or your joint accounts.