Tax advice of the week: 'Bed and Isa' your shares

published 24 May 2011

All of us have an annual capital gains tax (CGT) allowance of £10,600, but many of us fail to use it, says Mark Atherton in The Times. This is a waste, and since you can't roll it over from one year to the next, you 'use it or lose it'. And if you don't need the money right now, you can always use it to shelter an existing investment from tax by putting it in an Isa (Individual Savings Account), says Joe McGrath in The Independent.

"Bed and breakfasting selling a holding and then buying it back the next day to rebase the cost with the aim of saving tax is no longer permitted," explains Danny Cox, head of advice at Hargreaves Lansdown. However, "bed and Isa" where a fund or shares are sold to the value of the £10,600 limit, then re-purchased in an Isa is permitted. "Future growth and income are then free of tax."

And it's not just you who can benefit, says Tricia Phillips in The Mirror. Your children have an annual CGT allowance too; if funds are needed for their education or living expenses while at university, this could be a handy way of minimising the amount of tax paid.