The Lemon Fool

I completed the administration of my late husband's estate during the previous tax year and because it all took so long and was before the recent change in the law, there was some tax to pay on interest and dividends (for which there was no allowance) but none to pay on capital gains as they amounted to less than the allowance. I did the fairly straightforward return in the form of a letter, which is allowable for simple estates, and their calculations agreed with mine apart from the fact that they did not allow brokers' charges of getting on for £400 which they say can only be offset against taxable gains which I find rather surprising. I couldn't find anything about it on the gov.uk website which I find impenetrable. I shall presume I was given correct information (not always the case these days) and pay up unless anyone on here knows otherwise, in which case I would appreciate your comments.

Brokers charges are certainly not allowable against income tax and they are only allowable for capital gains if they relate to specific purchases and sales. An annual administration fee would not be allowable for either CGT or IT.

Where you have received a foreign currency dividend, it may be ok to report as income the net GBP received after transaction costs.

Many thanks, scrumpyjack.