How do I calculate the CGT on shares Im now selling

I have been buying shares in an investment trust ( outside of an ISA) most months over the last 10+ years ( so 120 +purchases) When I want to sell some, how do I calculate the CGT? Do I need to find the paper work from when I brought the shares and calculate the difference in the shares price? When I sell, are the "the oldest", or the newest shares sold?

Hi cp3,
If the share are of the same company and same kind, you can pool them together and use an average value for the acquisition cost.  This will be deducted from the disposal value, along with broker fees etc, to work out your gain/loss.  In this way it does not matter whether the share disposed of is older or newer than any other disposed at the same time.  This is known as a section 104 holding.  
Please have a look at the guidance at helpsheet HS284 for more information. Shares and Capital Gains Tax (Self Assessment helpsheet HS284).
Thank you.

Thank you for your reply. Looking at example 3, it looks like I need to go through every purchase of shares in a company to determine the cost of the pool? ... then it gets easier because of the pooling. I can only find the contract notes from the last 7 years. If I am unable to find the contract notes, what should I do.

Hi cp3,
You would need to contact the company direct od the London Stock Exchange.
Thank you. 

How does it work with sale of non UK shares when an average value is used for the acquisition cost of shares acquired over different dates, as far as the exchange rate for conversion back to sterling is concerned? What date of acquisition should be assumed when there is a partial disposal over the total holding? Please clarify this point as the question seems to have been asked by a few users already but no clear answer has been provided. Example: I own 1,000 shares in A Inc (US company) with 600 shares acquired in 2015, 300 shares acquired in 2017 and the remaining 100 shares acquired over a number of different dates between 2015 and 2024 due to dividend reinvestment. I sold 700 shares in 2023-2024. If I were to use the s104 pooling method to calculate the average cost base for my disposal, what date of acquisition should I assume for the purpose of converting the cost base from USD back to GBP?

Hi Pomhk,
Under the terms of Self Assessment, we do not provide an official exchange rate and the onus is on the individual to use a just and reasonable exchange rate for each acquisition and disposal. For your convenience, there are exchange rates at
Exchange rates from HMRC in CSV and XML format
and for older rates at
Foreign exchange rates and spot rates: 1 January 1989 to 31 March 2009.
You are free to use any of the supplied rates or one of your own choosing.  
You can use the date of the earliest share acquisition and use an exchange rate of your choosing.
Thank you.

Hi, I'm hoping I could get some advice on the taxes with selling shares also. I have shares that I purchased each month through a company share purchase plan. The company matched 40% of my contribution and also added an extra €20 (they were a German based company) each month. Income tax was paid at my individual rate on the Employer Contribution at the time my contribution was deducted from my salary. Altogether I did have 190 shares that I purchased myself and 20 more that were a granted RSUs that once vested I chose "sell to cover" the taxes. Leaving a remainder of 9 that I kept staying as shares in the account. So in total I had 199 shares. I transferred these shares to another brokerage account when I moved from the company. The share price obviously fluctuated over the course of the time I was purchasing them. I do have a list of all the cost basis's (EUR) as well as the total contributions made during this time (GBP). I have sold just under half of these shares in Jan 2024 and I'm just confused as to how I now work out my gain/loss. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Hi,
Please refer to guidance at:
Tax when you sell shares
Thankyou.

Hi, Regarding selling shares from a section 104 pool. When a sale in shares is made from a section 104 pool, I understand there is a recalculation made for the remaining shares at the new cost level after a sale. If I partially sell shares from the pool and make 2 more sales soon after, say 1 day after and 3 days after, do I need to perform the recalculation after each sale, or can numerous sales within a specific timeframe be bulked into one sale. Thank you

Hi,
Yes, the value of the pool is adjusted every time there is an event which reduces or increases the pool of qualifying expenditure. You can see the guidance  here:
CG51575 - Share identification rules for capital gains tax from 6.4.2008: the Section 104 holding in detail
Thank you.

Hi, This year I will need to pay some CGT on share sales, for the first time. I normally complete an online self assessment. Do I just input the total amounts for Sale, Cost, Profit and Loss. Do I need to submit some kind of work sheet listing each share sale, if so what might this work sheet show and look like. Thanks for any help.

Hi ,
 

You can declare the gains in your online tax return, by selecting the capital gains option when tailoring your return.  The key boxes are disposal value, allowable costs and profit before losses.  Self assessment will apply the annual exempt allowance.  The online tax return allows you to either add a pdf attachment, showing your calculation of the gains or to use the built in worksheet, which will create the equivalent of a calculation of the gain, in lieu of adding an attachment. Thank you .

Hi, thank you for reply. Can I clarify, that I have to put some form of attached detail in and not just the totals. (Yes or No). If the answer is yes, how much detail - the reason is that I have eleven sales covering five different situations. Whilst I am happy that my calculations are correct, the matter is how to show the calculations and explanations in attached documents. The situations are 1) simple profit/loss, 2) partial sale in a section 104 group, 3) return of capital with share redemption, 4) return of capital with issue of different class of share and 5) buy/sell trades carried out within 30 days for shares in a 104 group. To show all that information in a clear unambiguous way will take a little time, it may then still raise additional questions on the part of the reader. Any help appreciated, thanks.

Hi Peter,
Yes, you need to include a calulation of some sort.
This can be a pdf document of your transactions to show the buy/sell details.
Thank you.
 

Hi, I am helping my mum with selling some of her shares. She has share certificates but these don't say how much the purchase price was - can I just look up what the share price was on the date that appears on the share certificate? Thanks, ark

Hi,
This information should be held by the Stock Exchange, however, you may have to pay a fee. Petrhaps if a broker dealt with the acquistion, they may have this information.
Thank you.