Capital loss

[bungeejumper]

Some fifteen years ago, a now-retired friend who didn't really understand investment was sold an absurdly risky and unsuitable fund which duly crashed - and now, 15 years on, she's being offered £600 for her £25,000 investment, which is being wound up. (The adviser is no longer in business.) So she has a capital loss to declare. Not to mention a burning sense of grievance against the adviser.

Naturally, she wants to register the capital loss with HMRC so as to be able to offset it against future capital gains tax on a building that she also owns. But she's unsure of the procedure.

Am I right in thinking she'll need to complete a self-assessment income tax form in order to get her claim registered by HMRC, or is there a different procedure? And am I correct in assuming that, if the loss is 'crystallised' during this tax year, she won't need to do any notifying to HMRC until January 2019?

And does she have to keep on re-registering the loss every year until she actually gets to 'spend' it against future CGT on the property? Or does it stay on the books once it's on the record?

Questions, questions. Thanks!

BJ

[genou]

Some fifteen years ago, a now-retired friend who didn't really understand investment was sold an absurdly risky and unsuitable fund which duly crashed - and now, 15 years on, she's being offered £600 for her £25,000 investment, which is being wound up. (The adviser is no longer in business.) So she has a capital loss to declare. Not to mention a burning sense of grievance against the adviser.

Naturally, she wants to register the capital loss with HMRC so as to be able to offset it against future capital gains tax on a building that she also owns. But she's unsure of the procedure.

Am I right in thinking she'll need to complete a self-assessment income tax form in order to get her claim registered by HMRC, or is there a different procedure? And am I correct in assuming that, if the loss is 'crystallised' during this tax year, she won't need to do any notifying to HMRC until January 2019?

And does she have to keep on re-registering the loss every year until she actually gets to 'spend' it against future CGT on the property? Or does it stay on the books once it's on the record?

Questions, questions. Thanks!

BJ

The amounts you are quoting don't require her to submit a return of themselves. In that case, she can just write to HMRC. Once a loss is claimed it stays claimed and doesn't need refreshed. She has some time to claim the loss.

https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/losses