Hi All,
Not sure if this is the best place to ask about this or if it should be under 'General)...please move mods if required!
Anyhow...
I have some shares in Switzerland for some years now and looking to sell them. I acquired these shares when working for this multinational in another country (Oz). They were purchased at a 20% discount ('Employee share scheme', I believe). They trade on the Swiss stock exchange...hence the Swiss-UK bilteral tax issue....
The UK subsidiary also has this 'employee share scheme' which I hope is an HMRC approved share incentive plans in which case there's either no tax to pay or it's at a reduced rate.
Now I need the money here in the UK to help the UK economy...
When I logged into my shares account (via UBS) I saw that the UK has some bilateral tax agreement with the Swiss which only came into effect this year (). More details about that agreement here:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxtreaties/s...-factsheet.pdf
Now UBS are giving me the option of:
1) Voluntary disclosure to HMRC with my 'income' / capital gains (UBS simply pass on all my details, CHF info etc to HMRC). I then have to declare this on my next tax return.
or:
2) Have an anonymous witholding tax deducted by the swiss authorities. This tax is based on gross proceeds and not based on capital gains ('due to technical reasons') and therefore 'may lead to a higher witholding tax'.
Just some questions really:
1) anyone else been in a similar situation with Swiss assets?
2) If I go for option 2, then it seems that I will be taxed on final sale of the investment (e.g.10k) and not the capital gains bit...is my understanding correct??
3) If I go for option 1 (cough up to the HMRC) then with CGT I would not have to pay anything as long as my gain is not over the Annual Exempt Amount which is 10,600(HM Revenue & Customs: Capital Gains Tax: the basics). I'm still working out my 'gain' as I paid x amount (at 20% discounted price) every month for 4 years...not too straight forward! Any ideas how I work that one out?
I presume I go through my statements and look at the amount of shares I bought and what price they were purchased. I then compare this against the sale price (let's assume I have sold them). I then deduct these two to arrive at my capital gain?
Incidentally, I see that a witholding tax has been applied already to the dividends (35%) by UBS, so I won't include this on my calculations.
4) I may transfer these shares to my wife as a 'gift' to reduce my tax liability further...how would I do that?
I was going to see a tax expert but as we're talking about a few k, their fees will cost me more than any 'profit'!
I may otherwise try and speak to HMRC and find out what the damage could be...without giving too many personal details away...
PC
Not sure if this is the best place to ask about this or if it should be under 'General)...please move mods if required!
Anyhow...
I have some shares in Switzerland for some years now and looking to sell them. I acquired these shares when working for this multinational in another country (Oz). They were purchased at a 20% discount ('Employee share scheme', I believe). They trade on the Swiss stock exchange...hence the Swiss-UK bilteral tax issue....
The UK subsidiary also has this 'employee share scheme' which I hope is an HMRC approved share incentive plans in which case there's either no tax to pay or it's at a reduced rate.
Now I need the money here in the UK to help the UK economy...
When I logged into my shares account (via UBS) I saw that the UK has some bilateral tax agreement with the Swiss which only came into effect this year (). More details about that agreement here:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxtreaties/s...-factsheet.pdf
Now UBS are giving me the option of:
1) Voluntary disclosure to HMRC with my 'income' / capital gains (UBS simply pass on all my details, CHF info etc to HMRC). I then have to declare this on my next tax return.
or:
2) Have an anonymous witholding tax deducted by the swiss authorities. This tax is based on gross proceeds and not based on capital gains ('due to technical reasons') and therefore 'may lead to a higher witholding tax'.
Just some questions really:
1) anyone else been in a similar situation with Swiss assets?
2) If I go for option 2, then it seems that I will be taxed on final sale of the investment (e.g.10k) and not the capital gains bit...is my understanding correct??
3) If I go for option 1 (cough up to the HMRC) then with CGT I would not have to pay anything as long as my gain is not over the Annual Exempt Amount which is 10,600(HM Revenue & Customs: Capital Gains Tax: the basics). I'm still working out my 'gain' as I paid x amount (at 20% discounted price) every month for 4 years...not too straight forward! Any ideas how I work that one out?
I presume I go through my statements and look at the amount of shares I bought and what price they were purchased. I then compare this against the sale price (let's assume I have sold them). I then deduct these two to arrive at my capital gain?
Incidentally, I see that a witholding tax has been applied already to the dividends (35%) by UBS, so I won't include this on my calculations.
4) I may transfer these shares to my wife as a 'gift' to reduce my tax liability further...how would I do that?
I was going to see a tax expert but as we're talking about a few k, their fees will cost me more than any 'profit'!
I may otherwise try and speak to HMRC and find out what the damage could be...without giving too many personal details away...
PC
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