Financial Spread betting, UK Tax, and HMRC. Advice please!

[powerbook]

ASB, thanks. Not planning for SB to provide my sole income so hopefully I will be OK.

I remember Gordon Brown setting his sights on SB in the late 1990s. Never came to anything though. One reason may be that apparently c.95% of retail traders lose which would amount to a lot of off-setting.

[Lance]

ASB, thanks. Not planning for SB to provide my sole income so hopefully I will be OK.

I remember Gordon Brown setting his sights on SB in the late 1990s. Never came to anything though. One reason may be that apparently c.95% of retail traders lose which would amount to a lot of off-setting.

Is Spread Betting Still Tax Free In the UK
If it is tax free gambling then you don't put it on your SA.

Personally I doubt if the government will tax it as the gambling industry is a very powerful lobby.
Look at the fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs). They are used either by thick losers with a problem (mental usually), or for money laundering purposes. If that isn't enough reason to regulate/ban/tax then what is?

[powerbook]

Lance, excellent. The link you provided explains the position very well. Thank you.

[northernladuk]

Lance, excellent. The link you provided explains the position very well. Thank you.

10 seconds on Google would give another 10k plus links saying the same thing you know.

[Lance]

10 seconds on Google would give another 10k plus links saying the same thing you know.

Which was how I found it.
It's a nice Sunday morning though otherwise I'd have used this https://lmgtfy.com/

[northernladuk]

Which was how I found it.
It's a nice Sunday morning though otherwise I'd have used this https://lmgtfy.com/

You, sir, are a gentleman.

[powerbook]

Lance, that link will be winging it’s way over to Crunch Accounting. On Friday they told me I must declare SB winnings on my SA. Which didn’t sound right to me. I did indeed search the Internet, however it wasn’t conclusive, hence I sought clarity from a forum.

[northernladuk]

Might be better sending them the HMRC documentation such as this...

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-man...anual/bim22000

[DimPrawn]

My understanding are HMRC are reluctant to treat trading/gambling as taxable, because if they do, they must then allow you to offset any losses against tax, which they know, over time, for 95% of traders/gamblers losses is going to be more than profit/winnings.

[Lance]

My understanding are HMRC are reluctant to treat trading/gambling as taxable, because if they do, they must then allow you to offset any losses against tax, which they know, over time, for 95% of traders/gamblers losses is going to be more than profit/winnings.

true but that doesn't stop them from taxing profits from Zopa (and other p2p) but not allowing relief on bad debt.