Hi, if someone can help me on this, I was told with a stocks and shares ISA if I invest in a UK stock I wont need to pay any tax on the profits, I was then told investing in a US stock via an ISA is still subject to tax. is this correct? From my understanding a stocks ISA only benefits you when it comes to profits made on a UK stock?
Also investing in US stock via a ISA or standard invest account is the same in terms of paying tax?
Thank you for any clarification on this.
You do not pay any UK tax on profits you make in an ISA account, either from selling at a profit (capital gains) or received dividends. That applies to any shares you hold; UK, USA, Europe or other. In fact, you do not need to report any proceeds from an ISA account to the HMRC at all.
However, for USA held stocks, the US government applies a withholding tax on dividends, taken from the source, so you receive your dividends minus 15% and there is no way around this. This also applies to some European stocks.
Thank you for the quick response and clarification.
Just wanted to confirm, I have invested in a few US stocks using my standard investing account? What do I do when a profit is made or dividend is paid.
Profits from the Investing account are subject to CGT, and dividends to dividends tax, but only if your profit/dividends are above the exemption threshhold.
The UK tax information thread at the top of the Help section has detailed information.
You will find many answers here. Read all the FAQs and you may learn a lot.
You only have to pay Capital Gains Tax on your overall gains above your tax - free allowance (called the Annual Exempt Amount). The Capital Gains tax - free allowance is: £12,300.
From the gov.uk website.
Capital gains are taxed differently from income , and you have a separate personal allowance for capital gains (in addition to your personal allowance for income ).
A key factor if ever deciding between possible return on two assets is if one is ISA and one is not eligible for ISA then factor the tax burdens into your possible returns, sometimes certain stocks then dont make as much sense.
Also when deciding dividend yield calculations etc ned to factor in a UK stock 3% is ‘worth’ a US 3.5%.