Please help - Capital Gains on shares

[Shinysunday]

I have some shares in a Columbia Threadneedle fund which I bought back in 1997 through a broker, and which I now want to sell, so I'm looking at the Capital Gains tax position.
I have online access to Columbia Threadneedle and have kept the paperwork in recent years but don't have the original paperwork, and I can on only see that since 2011 the total value of the shares has risen from 14K to around 50K. I can't remember what they cost originally, and CT don't have the information, though they are checking their archives for me. But it was probably less than 14K.
I'm shocked at the amount of Capital Gains Tax I'll be liable for. Am I right in thinking that if I bought the shares for (say) 10K in 1997, and they are now worth 50K, I'll have to pay CGT on 40K, apart from my 3K allowance? I'm a basic rate tax payer. Could I use my CGT allowance from previous years? Coincidentally this year is the only year I've ever had to pay any, and I've used up my allowance with the sale of a rental property.
Many thanks for any clarification you can give.

As a basic rate tax payer you’ll be liable for 10% on the gain, less your £3000 allowance.

No you cannot use CGT allowance from previous years- it is per year.

Didn’t Reeves increase CGT for basic rate taxpayers to 18% in the last budget?

Ah yes actually that’s right it has now changed so 18%

Thank you. Could you explain why it is 10%? Looking at a CGT calculator, it seems to be using 18%. Ah, I've just seen the response above. Thanks, both. Seems a lot!

According to the official HMRC, the rate for basic rate taxpayers is 18%

https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/rates

Do you need to sell it all now? You might consider waiting until the next tax year if you've already used up your allowance.

Could I check something else - if I move the money to a different fund within Columbia Threadneedle instead of selling, would I still have to pay the CGT? They've just told me they are opening up my fund to pay for conventional weapons.

I want to sell because they are starting to use the fund for arms. I could leave it there if I could transfer it to another fund.

The other thing to note is that even if you are a basic rate taxpayer you need to figure out if the capital gain takes you over the basic rate threshold. Because if it does then CGT will be payable on some of it at the higher rate.

On your sell and re-invest question, that will depend if the investment is inside a tax wrapper - like an ISA or pension. If it is then there’s no CGT at all. But if it’s not, you’ll pay CGT on the sale. There’s no roll-over relief on equities. But, speak to the fund manager if you are not sure on the tax status of the investment.

If your initial investment was in an ISA you would pay no tax, however, I presume it was not purchased within an ISA wrapper based on your previous posts.

You could sell the fund down on an annual basis to use the allowance. If you are going to re-invest you could buy the new fund within the ISA and therefore not create a future issue. If you sell circa £3,600 each year your gain will around £3k so no tax.

A switch is regarded as a sale so would generate CGT on the amount you sell each year.