I have a number of Scottish Power shares (approx 1500 "to hand"), and in the proposed refund of money from the sale of Pacificorp, they want to convert roughly 1/3rd of shares to "B" shares, and issue a cheque for about £1.20 per share on all (?) shares held at a particular date.
Three options are given for the "B" shares (what are they exactly ? - it doesn`t sound like you can sell them as you would normal shares), and they go something like this...
a) sell them for £3.60 each and get it as "income" b) sell them for £3.60 each and get it as "capital", either now or at some point in the future through some "in house" scheme (?) c) something else that didn`t seem applicable to me
I don`t really see the difference between A & B, other than one wouldn`t appear to have immediate tax implications ?!?
Just to complicate matters, i`m also part of an "employee share ownership plan", and have probably 3 times as many shares under it, although many will still be "locked in" for a period of time before they`re free of tax implications.
Does anyone know what happens to these under the "B" share scenario ?
If it makes any difference, i`m on about £21k and hoping these changes won`t force a temporary hike to any other tax bracket !
Thanks :-}