Best Platform for Capital Gains Tax Reporting

[Bobwood]

I'm currently with a platform that provides no annual tax reports and it's becoming a PIA.

Any views on which platform out of the usual suspects provides good auto tax reports for CGT reporting please?

As moving to AJ Bell would be easiest (already have an account with them), I'd be particularly interested to hear from anyone with experience of their reporting please. I did just call them and although they say they do provide reports, they couldn't point me in the direction of any templates or dummy reports on their website.

Thanks in advance.

[Midsmartin]

I don't see how any platform can provide full CGT reporting, because to provide one requires full knowledge of any trading you may have done on other platforms. ie the CGT effect of something I sell today with broker A is influenced by whether I've bought or sold the same share with broker B this year.

[pje16]

agreed with Midsmartin
think you have to do the work yourself
see if this site helps
http://www.cgtcalculator.com/

[Bobwood]

I don't see how any platform can provide full CGT reporting, because to provide one requires full knowledge of any trading you may have done on other platforms. ie the CGT effect of something I sell today with broker A is influenced by whether I've bought or sold the same share with broker B this year.

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear.

I would only use that one platform, and whilst I don't expect them to calculate the tax itself, I just mean good reporting of the gains/losses during the year.

Some platforms provide reports, some (lower cost ones) don't. I'm just asking which platforms are good at reporting annual transactional info to use in reporting Capital Gains.

[mc2fool]

I'm currently with a platform that provides no annual tax reports and it's becoming a PIA.

All platforms should provide an annual Consolidated Tax Certificate (CTC), which is a summary of any/all dividends and interest you've received (in a taxable account) during the tax year. However, for the reasons already stated, I don't believe any broker/platform attempts to produce a CGT report.

I use both IWeb and II and while both produce quarterly reports that contain a plethora of data, neither include CGT Information, or even profit/loss info on sales. So, you have to keep your contract notes and figure it for yourself. Beware of the complications of accumulation funds....

[genou]

AJBell do provide CGT reports. I had to go look for one, since I don't actually use them.

Date of Sale / # of shares sold / Stock name / Proceeds / Cost / Net Loss / Net Gain

And totals.

Edit - I don't use OIECS, so I have no idea how they handle things like accumulation units.

[scrumpyjack]

Brokers really don't want to provide information which is highly likely to be incorrect.

HL who are good in other respects are hopeless in terms of correctly keeping track of CGT cost values.

Their accounting for the recent demerger of Jackson from Prudential was incorrect, even though Prudential issued an RNS setting out how it should be done. I pointed this out to them several times but they refused to do anything about it! So any client with Pru shares will have incorrect cost values for their holdings in Pru and Jackson.

[Lootman]

Brokers really don't want to provide information which is highly likely to be incorrect.

HL who are good in other respects are hopeless in terms of correctly keeping track of CGT cost values.

In the US a few years ago brokers were required to produce an annual gains/loss report as well as reporting interest and dividends as they do here.

It took a couple of years for them to iron out the problems. And cost basis numbers that were inherited and wrong would still be a problem. But the point is that US brokers did manage to get this right and so there is no reason why UK brokers could not do the same thing.

Part of the brokers' original struggle was with corporate actions as you suggest. Another is with positions bought elsewhere and imported prior to the change. But that is really just a matter of tightening up procedures and processes.

I wish UK brokers were required to do this. Then accounting for gains and losses would be as simple as accounting for dividends and interest - just send in the consolidated tax certificates as is and you are done.

Interactive Investors do a decent job of maintaining cost basis, which is really the only number you need prior to the sale data. But they mess up some types of corporate action.

[Nocton]

Charles Stanley is good - and accurate. You can ask for a CGT report at any time. By 'accurate', I mean that they agree with my accounts using Meridian's Investor 3 software, which is well worth the money.

[Bobwood]

I'm currently with a platform that provides no annual tax reports and it's becoming a PIA.

All platforms should provide an annual Consolidated Tax Certificate (CTC), which is a summary of any/all dividends and interest you've received (in a taxable account) during the tax year. However, for the reasons already stated, I don't believe any broker/platform attempts to produce a CGT report.

I use both IWeb and II and while both produce quarterly reports that contain a plethora of data, neither include CGT Information, or even profit/loss info on sales. So, you have to keep your contract notes and figure it for yourself. Beware of the complications of accumulation funds....

Yes, I get a CTC with divis and interest, but that's where it ends. A Dealing History is also available but it's quite unwieldy.

I was hoping other platforms may be a little more functionally rich, and from other answers it seems AJ Bell may be worth a try.

[scrumpyjack]

Brokers really don't want to provide information which is highly likely to be incorrect.

HL who are good in other respects are hopeless in terms of correctly keeping track of CGT cost values.

In the US a few years ago brokers were required to produce an annual gains/loss report as well as reporting interest and dividends as they do here.

It took a couple of years for them to iron out the problems. And cost basis numbers that were inherited and wrong would still be a problem. But the point is that US brokers did manage to get this right and so there is no reason why UK brokers could not do the same thing.

Part of the brokers' original struggle was with corporate actions as you suggest. Another is with positions bought elsewhere and imported prior to the change. But that is really just a matter of tightening up procedures and processes.

I wish UK brokers were required to do this. Then accounting for gains and losses would be as simple as accounting for dividends and interest - just send in the consolidated tax certificates as is and you are done.

Interactive Investors do a decent job of maintaining cost basis, which is really the only number you need prior to the sale data. But they mess up some types of corporate action.

The problem in the UK is that taxable gains are calculated based on a pool of all your holdings of shares in a company, which may be held with several different brokers. No broker would have the data to report correctly where this is the case. In the US, I understand, you can legally compute gains based on each brokerage account separately. There has been talk of introducing the same in the UK, but it has not yet happened.

[Maylix]

AJBell do provide CGT reports. I had to go look for one, since I don't actually use them.

Date of Sale / # of shares sold / Stock name / Proceeds / Cost / Net Loss / Net Gain

And totals.

I have an AJBell account and can't find this report anywhere, can you provide more detail of where on the site it is?
TIA
MayLix

[genou]

AJBell do provide CGT reports. I had to go look for one, since I don't actually use them.

Date of Sale / # of shares sold / Stock name / Proceeds / Cost / Net Loss / Net Gain

And totals.

I have an AJBell account and can't find this report anywhere, can you provide more detail of where on the site it is?
TIA
MayLix

View your dealing account, then in the Account Menu box, select Documents . In Document Type, select Annual Tax Summary. I assume it only exists in the dealing account. Edit - you have to set a date range that will include the document. Mine seem to turn up in June.

[Maylix]

I have an AJBell account and can't find this report anywhere, can you provide more detail of where on the site it is?
TIA
MayLix

View your dealing account, then in the Account Menu box, select Documents . In Document Type, select Annual Tax Summary. I assume it only exists in the dealing account. Edit - you have to set a date range that will include the document. Mine seem to turn up in June.

Many thanks Genou.

[Lootman]

In the US a few years ago brokers were required to produce an annual gains/loss report as well as reporting interest and dividends as they do here.

It took a couple of years for them to iron out the problems. And cost basis numbers that were inherited and wrong would still be a problem. But the point is that US brokers did manage to get this right and so there is no reason why UK brokers could not do the same thing.

Part of the brokers' original struggle was with corporate actions as you suggest. Another is with positions bought elsewhere and imported prior to the change. But that is really just a matter of tightening up procedures and processes.

I wish UK brokers were required to do this. Then accounting for gains and losses would be as simple as accounting for dividends and interest - just send in the consolidated tax certificates as is and you are done.

Interactive Investors do a decent job of maintaining cost basis, which is really the only number you need prior to the sale data. But they mess up some types of corporate action.

The problem in the UK is that taxable gains are calculated based on a pool of all your holdings of shares in a company, which may be held with several different brokers. No broker would have the data to report correctly where this is the case. In the US, I understand, you can legally compute gains based on each brokerage account separately. There has been talk of introducing the same in the UK, but it has not yet happened.

Yes, the quickest and most obvious fix to that problem is to abolish the concept of pools and the average cost method we currently use, which always struck me as a bit weird anyway. In the US you can choose from a range of options such as FIFO, LIFO, HiFo, LowFo, average cost or specific lot selection. This is set at the account level so you could have FIFO in one account, LIFO in another, and so on.

I have two taxable accounts but make a point of never holding the same security in both, to get around the anomaly. I suspect that the number of investors who would be affected by this issue is fairly small in any event.