CGT and spouse gift

[cvanes]

I would like to give some of my shares to my wife. (Shortly afterwards she may decide to sell them within her CGT allowance. I have used my allowance up already.)

The shares are currently held in an online broker account in my name.

How do I go about making the gift?
* Does she need a shareholding account in her own name?
* And then I'll initiate a formal transfer of ownership?
Or is there a less administratively tiresome way to achieve this that HMRC will be happy with?

Thanks

[Chrysalis]

Yes she will need her own account to hold the shares. Easiest if she has an account at the same broker, and then they should be able to transfer them automatically on instruction from you.

[scotia]

Easiest if she has an account at the same broker

I also agree - I carried this out with Charles Stanley Direct.

[cvanes]

Thanks very much for the replies.

The complication is that they are foreign shares with a foreign broker and the account was initially set up through a previous employer based in that country.
I imagine it will be a pain to set up a new account for my wife without a local address, so I had hoped it might be possible to make the gift without the hassle of a new account.

I'll contact the broker to see how easy or otherwise this will be.

Thanks all!

[Clitheroekid]

You could achieve the same objective simply by signing a declaration of trust, saying that you held the beneficial interest in the shares as trustee for yourself and your wife.

It'd be sensible to have it dated and witnessed by a professional witness, e.g. a solicitor, so as to establish the date of the `transfer'.

Alternatively / additionally you could send a copy to HMRC at the same time.