Inherited shares in joint names. is this treated differently taxwise ?

[georgesoros]

I held shares in joint names with my grandmother for the last 10 years or so. She recently passed away. The amount was within the limit before inheritance tax would have to be paid.
What is the situation with the capital gains tax she may have owed on selling them ? If I sell them what is my base cost ? Is it the price she originally paid for them ? Or is this one way the capital gains tax has been legally avoided ?

 

[Brendan Burgess]

A very interesting question.

When a person dies, it's not treated as a disposal for CGT, so there is no CGT payable on the shares.

So if your granny had shares in her own name when she died, she would have paid no CGT.

I don't know how joint ownership affects this. I suspect that the base cost for you is the original price for half of them, and the current price for the other half.

 

[georgesoros]

A very interesting question.

When a person dies, it's not treated as a disposal for CGT, so there is no CGT payable on the shares.

So if your granny had shares in her own name when she died, she would have paid no CGT.

I don't know how joint ownership affects this. I suspect that the base cost for you is the original price for half of them, and the current price for the other half.

Well some of the shares I had put my granny on as the second name well before I had anyone else to leave it to. My granny did the same and put me as a second name on hers.