shares in US as birthday present- confused!

[blueberrysorbet]

a friend wants to give me shares in their company as a birthday present which is very generous, but how does it work with tax in the UK? I don't plan to cash them or anything. I don;t live in the UK at the moment but i have a house i rent out there.

I am a bit confused due to the HMRC website which I find really hard to understand and stuff about declaring overseas assets. is that bank accounts?

if someone could help that would be great

How much are the shares worth?

Will the shares pay a dividend? If so, will the dividend be paid into a US bank account (do you have one - presumably so, as rental income is paid into it)? Do you file a US tax return?

Would think dividend income is all that you pay tax on in America, unless/until you sell the shares.

As far as the UK, don't think you'd have to do anything unless/until you bring the money into the country - again assuming you are already filing a tax return in the US.

But I am not an accountant.

no i don;t live in the us and don't fill in a us return, i have a uk tax return. they wont pay a dividend t all. its all so confusing!

You don't need to pay any tax when you get the shares.
If the shares pay you a dividend (and I noticed you said they didn't) you might have have to pay tax on that. But this will depend on your general income levels and also on which country you live in at that point.
If you sell the shares you might have to pay capital gains tax. This would only happen if you sell the shares for more than their market value at the date of the gift and the total profit you make is above £10,000.
The above is only the UK rules, the US rules (or indeed the rules of the country you currently live in) may be different.