FuturesBetting? Holy Moly !!

Hi all,

This is my first post on Trade2Win, though I have been watching for some time.

I got an advert email from ADVFN the other day for Twowayfutures and gave them a call. One of the chaps there took me through the whole process and how it all works. I have my account open now and started trading today. Just gonna feel my way in for a couple of days but it really is what it says on the tin, exactly the same prices as you will get from eSignal (I have compared) and all tax free. Amazing.

I am going to see them next week just to meet them, but so far all looks great. Will report again in a few days I guess.


JMatt

No it is tax free in Gibraltar, it may not be tax free within the UK as it is not regulated and set up as a Spreadbet company in the UK.

I would strongly advise caution.

JonnyT

Yes, it looks like the same old problem, if it's your main source of income, maybe it's liable.

This is not a firm for newbies, the application process requires prev experience. In addition, your account must be £5k minimum. A good thing all in all, to dissuade chancers with credit cards. Sounds like it was a condition set by the Gibraltar regulator.

Their location perhaps plays a part in their lower costs. All clients monies are held in London bank.

What I'm not understanding yet, is why people aren't going dizzy over this yet! This should have all full-time traders deserting the Sbs in droves.

I’m a client and they’re great. Really cheap spreads and super fast because they hedge straight into the futures markets. Whether it’s tax free or not depends where you are resident and not where the SB is. Spoke to them today and they’ve got something like 100 odd financial futures clients and are starting spread bets on equities November time. Happy days!

Futuresbetting.com is 100% tax free for UK residents because it is a spreadbetting company and client funds are held in London (Barclays I think).

From what I can gather , the company had to go through a few years of beaucracy in Gibraltar before they were issued with the spreadbetting licence. I would imagine that the reason they can offer tight spreads is because they have less tax to pay on their own profits and that is why they are Gibraltar based.

It's a very clever set up and will probably cause a massive headache to the current spreadbetting companies and futures arcades that currently exist (ceratainly the one's that I looked at first ).

I hate to be the bearer of potentially bad news. How YOU are taxed on your betting will be a function of the income derived from it and whether those bets are deemed professional - whether thats horses, cricket runs or trading (betting) financial markets.

Traders who do not declare that do so at their own risk!!!!

Worse, traders who think using spread betting as a cover for trading really are asking for trouble.

If this is wrong i would love to hear from someone who has openly declared such earnings (of a reasonably large size) to the inland revenue, to be then told it is not taxable - if that is the case then we are all OFF TO THE RACES

- I hope someone has got that precedent set. Please please please let us know if you have

Yes, we've had this discussion on 2tw before. The Inland Rev haven't made a test case, the official line being if gambling earnings are the major source of your income you are deemed a professional gambler and are liable for tax, but they haven't the balls to go to court, for fear of scaring the bookies back to Gibraltar. I suspect individuals have been intimidated into paying without contesting.(but please lets not go there again!)

Of course there is no need to be too open about how much money you make within the realms of gambling.

Trading is trading, if you use SBs successfully, it's no cover. Trouble is you can't generally on an intraday basis, so have to go direct to market with say e-minis, hence this thread.

But this is going off message. This thread isn't so much about whether you should be paying tax on your SB earnings, but more about a new product based on a business model that the old guard of SB firms can't hope to match.

UK spreadbetting is treated as not subject to tax on net winnings. Why should SB services from Gibraltar for the UK resident be taxed if he makes a net profit? I think all thoughts need to be concentrated here so any further comment must be helpful.

Am I right to say that correctly spreadbetting is 'tax paid' so that no tax arises in the hands of the spreadbetter who happens to be making money?