I have about ten thousand pounds worth of shares - from "free" issues when building societies went non-mutual etc - banks took over building societies.
I put the max in to cash isas every year.
In a nutshell - is it worth moving my shares in to a shares ISA - and why. It is not my intention to buy and sell shares in the future - I will just use existing for dividends or perhaps resulting share issues.
To put shares into an ISA entails selling them and buying them back via an ISA provider. Thus there will be some costs involved in addition to whatever the ISA provider charges, i.e. dealing costs (I'm not sure whether stamp duty is chargeable on ISA purchases, but brokers - online or not - will be making their charges). So the question is whether the tax you pay on the dividends outside the ISA is greater than the unreclaimable tax within the ISA. You know your tax rate.
Also, if you do not buy and sell then you'll not be paying CGT and so one of the advantages of an ISA is not there.
In total, I doubt if there's much point in putting your shares into an ISA.
Mind you, I'd probably sell all the shares and invest the proceeds into a high income producing OEIC like Invesco Perpetual's Monthly Income Plus Fund and do so into the ISA version. You'd get a very high income, be in a lower risk bracket and not have to pay ANY tax on the divis because they are regarded as interest not divis.
Rob Graham
Probably not, unless you are a higher rate taxpayer, claim tax credits, or are a pensioner on the higher tax allowance. You'll shield them from CGT but if you're not going to sell them you won't pay GCT (and if you do sell them you can spread it over 2 or more tax years to use your allowance).
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