Spread betting is about to get more attractive

There's a lot of panic around about the hike in capital gains tax (CGT). But spread betters can relax. You don’t pay CGT on spread bets, and that's not likely to change.

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All kinds of rumours are flying about what the new government will do to the capital gains tax rate. Will they hike it back up to 40%? Will any indexation relief or taper relief be introduced to take account of inflationary gains on assets? Will the tax be introduced this year or next?

It's fair to say a degree of panic has set in amongst some owners of second properties and shares. They are pondering whether to sell up now ahead of the tax or wait and hope the new regime isn't too punitive.

Spread betters on the other hand can relax. You don't pay capital gains tax on spread bets 100% of any gain is yours. And that's highly unlikely to change. As a rule of thumb, pure bets on anything in this country are gains tax-free. That's why the winners of shows such as "Who wants to be a millionaire" look quite so pleased you win £1m and there's no CGT due.

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Since spread bets are also technically "gaming wins" the same rule applies. Sure, there is a flipside to this. Unlike with say shares, make a loss on a spread bet and you can't carry it forward to reduce same year, or future gains on "chargeable assets".

But overall, the looming CGT change is yet another reason to stick with spread betting.

Tim Bennett

Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.

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