Am I understanding this right?

[BeckyGreen499]

Hello

I've been investing money in the stocks and shares app 212. I have about £10k currently invested.

Am I right that if I sell the shares I may need to pay capital gains tax and if I've never done a self assessment tax return before do I need to register for self-assessment and submit a tax form to HMRC?

Is there anyway other than Stocks and Shares Isas where I can avoid paying tax?

ISAs are a tax wrapper (so protect you from tax) as such there is no capital gains tax to pay.

Ok but I mean what about if I dont use ISAs, do I need to then pay capital gains tax and make a declaration/self-assessment to HMRC?

Why would you not use an ISA? Have you maxed out on ISA already?

The app I'm using doesn't offer them yet (lightyear app).

Can someone explain if I need to submit a self assessment form to HMRC?

Do you mean tradingtwoonetwo?

If so you can definitely have it as a stocks and shares ISA account with them.

I opened mine this week.

So there will be no tax for me to declare

Yes but what happens if I invest say £50k on there? Will I have to pay tax?

Depends how much your gain is and if you’ve sold them? Tax is only due when you crystallise the gain so I’d sell enough that keeps you just under the threshold for the year the rest later in April. Then make any further investments in an ISA otherwise you’re giving money away for nothing

Ok but if I sell just enough to stay under the threshold do I still need to declare that I've sold them to HMRC?

No, only if above the threshold

you can use £20,000 this tax year, and in 2 weeks you can get another £20,000 into the next financial years isa.

I would suggest doing a tax return to be safe.

Its not that hard, you just plug your numbers in and it works it out for you.

Threshold is £6k this year, £3k next year, then I think halves again the following year. That's the gain, not the total sale price.

If you go over this you can declare to HMRC via self assessment, or I think there's another method if the CTG is the only tulhing.you have to declare - not.sure of the details of that but I believe it's a much shorter deadline.

Why would you not get an ISA on a different platform rather than stick with something that makes your life more complicated, and lose you your ISA allowance for the year?

It's the gain you pay cgt on, not the whole sum, and only if you sell it. So if you invested 10k and they're worth up to 15k, the gain is 5k. That's under the threshold so no return needed if you sell it. But you could sell now to crystallise the gain and reinvest in another fund, to reduce tax when you eventually do cash in. Or rebuy in an isa.

If in doubt tell HMRC and they will tell you if you need to pay tax. You don't necessarily have to do self assessment you can declare anything in a letter and just pay what they say you owe.