I've just received a letter from Standard Life UK telling me I've acquired a small number of shares, I assume from my father's estate. Never bought shares before (apart from those 3 weeks when I held eircom shares) and have no idea what the tax rules around them are. The revenue site doesn't really spell it out like I thought it would, and I've spent about an hour searching posts here to no avail, although I have no doubt my questions have been asked and answered many times before.
1. I want to keep the shares. SL offer 2 approaches for dividends, reinvest or get the money sent to my account. As far as I can tell, they'll tax the dividend on their end before 'giving' it to me. According to the calc on their site, the dividend is going be under 20 quid before tax, paid twice a year.
a. Do I owe revenue any money for this amount?
b. Is there a lower threshold?
c. Do I really need to go down the self assesement route (this is the only section that mentions dividends)? I'm a PAYE guy but I remember having to fill out a tax form years ago when I was a sole trader, and I don't want to go through all that again.
d. Would it make any difference if I just reinvested vs getting the dividend paid to my account?
2. If I sell the shares in the future, I believe I'll pay some sort of CGT on them, but this is calculated as the difference between what I paid for them, and what they're worth now. Let's say I sold them today, and they're worth 2k. Would I be liable on the full 2k, or only for the gain over what my dad paid for them, or indeed only for the gain on what they were worth at the time the shares were transferred to me?
3. Looking at revenue, the tax free portion is 1270, so I'd be liable on 2000-1270 at my current tax rate (presumably the highest rate I currently pay), is that correct?
1. I want to keep the shares. SL offer 2 approaches for dividends, reinvest or get the money sent to my account. As far as I can tell, they'll tax the dividend on their end before 'giving' it to me. According to the calc on their site, the dividend is going be under 20 quid before tax, paid twice a year.
a. Do I owe revenue any money for this amount?
b. Is there a lower threshold?
c. Do I really need to go down the self assesement route (this is the only section that mentions dividends)? I'm a PAYE guy but I remember having to fill out a tax form years ago when I was a sole trader, and I don't want to go through all that again.
d. Would it make any difference if I just reinvested vs getting the dividend paid to my account?
2. If I sell the shares in the future, I believe I'll pay some sort of CGT on them, but this is calculated as the difference between what I paid for them, and what they're worth now. Let's say I sold them today, and they're worth 2k. Would I be liable on the full 2k, or only for the gain over what my dad paid for them, or indeed only for the gain on what they were worth at the time the shares were transferred to me?
3. Looking at revenue, the tax free portion is 1270, so I'd be liable on 2000-1270 at my current tax rate (presumably the highest rate I currently pay), is that correct?