Hi
You cannot deduct costs for financial software or magazines from capital gains. The only allowable costs against capital gains on share transactions are stamp duty and broker commissions.
If you have "trader" tax status then the mags etc would be deductible expenses, however given the current £10,100 annual allowance and 18% tax rate, you're likely better maintaining investor status. More info:
Investor versus Trader
When you say you're not happy with the way Updata works out your capital gains, could you explain a bit more? HMRC require that gains be calculated according to a strict set of rules called the
Share Identification Rules. Something to be aware of is that the Identification rules changed from 6 April 2008 and the "last in first out" rules no longer apply. Instead, share disposals are now matched with purchases of shares in the same company in the following order:
* Shares acquired on the same day as the disposal
* Shares acquired in the 30 days following the date of disposal, matched on a first in first out basis (this is called the ‘bed and breakfasting’ rule)
* Shares acquired before the disposal date, which are pooled together and their cost averaged (a “Section 104” holding).
If you are looking for alternative software, you can currently use the timetotrade CGT calculator for free. Just set up a free account and input your share transactions in the
Portfolio pages and the
CGT calculator does the rest.
