New UK-US tax agreement - how it affects traders

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Does a US-based FCM inform HMRC that I hold an account with them? Has anything changed with regard to this matter after ecent signing of a tax agreement between UK and US?
 
Does a US-based FCM inform HMRC that I hold an account with them? Has anything changed with regard to this matter after ecent signing of a tax agreement between UK and US?

Why does it matter?
Normally you would be declaring it yourself anyway.
At the very least you would need to complete a W-8BEN to prevent
the broker from withholding taxes for the IRS.

Unless its a legitimate declared avoidance, I'd be very careful of not declaring
income to HMRC.
Not if, but when they find out, best case would be paying tax due, plus a fine.
Worst case depending on severity would be Lester Piggott's old cell...
BBC ON THIS DAY | 23 | 1987: Lester Piggott jailed for three years
Not a good idea to f**k about with the taxman...

If its something you've already done, go and see an accountant and/or solicitor.
Ultimately, if you have already done something, better to declare it yourself and plead ignorance,
and take whatever penalty is due.
The penalty could just be a late payment fine of £100-900 or 5% on top of tax due, if its recent:
HMRC late payment penalties

Don't sweat it, but get it sorted would be my advice.
If you have declared everything so far - no worries.
 
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Why does it matter?

Agree, why would it matter? There is no 'affect on traders.' HMRC should have been querying exactly what it is you're living off in the interim regardless by way of your NI record.

If, by implication, you have gains open to discovery and told them a porky, then you're gonna get the shaft eventually.

If not, who cares.
 
Agree, why would it matter? There is no 'affect on traders.' HMRC should have been querying exactly what it is you're living off in the interim regardless by way of your NI record.

If, by implication, you have gains open to discovery and told them a porky, then you're gonna get the shaft eventually.

If not, who cares.

Any bets on no class 2/4 NI either if not on PAYE...
I hope for his sake this is advance research and not a hole he's already in...
 
i find it funny how you can be making £1m+ a year trading but as long as you don't have over £16k in your savings account you can claim housing benefits and job seekers.. crazy
 
i find it funny how you can be making £1m+ a year trading but as long as you don't have over £16k in your savings account you can claim housing benefits and job seekers.. crazy

I don't know where you get this from? Source??? Daily Mail?!

Traders are self employed and this is taken into account in the household income portion of any benefit assessment.
 
i find it funny how you can be making £1m+ a year trading but as long as you don't have over £16k in your savings account you can claim housing benefits and job seekers.. crazy

Eh?

In order to make 1m+ a year (assuming your spreadbetting and taxfree), you'd need more than 16K in your trading account, which counts as having more than 16k in savings, so you wouldn't be able to claim.
 
I don't know where you get this from? Source??? Daily Mail?!

Traders are self employed and this is taken into account in the household income portion of any benefit assessment.

this time last year i was on and off job seekers allowance as i could only find temporary work contracts and i was trading from home when i weren't working or between contracts .. when they asked me how iv been supporting myself i said i was trading currency's and some stock's.. then the woman i was speaking to said "ow right you do know you need to declare that" then the woman on the next desk came over as she over heard and said "no you don't need to declare it.. and said something along the lines of "its a funny area as they view it as its gambling which doesn't effect your benefits as long as you don't have more than 16k in savings".. so i carried on trading and claiming job seekers untill i found my part time locksmith job in which i left job seekers and carried on trading..

strange right?
 
this time last year i was on and off job seekers allowance as i could only find temporary work contracts and i was trading from home when i weren't working or between contracts .. when they asked me how iv been supporting myself i said i was trading currency's and some stock's.. then the woman i was speaking to said "ow right you do know you need to declare that" then the woman on the next desk came over as she over heard and said "no you don't need to declare it.. and said something along the lines of "its a funny area as they view it as its gambling which doesn't effect your benefits as long as you don't have more than 16k in savings".. so i carried on trading and claiming job seekers untill i found my part time locksmith job in which i left job seekers and carried on trading..

strange right?

Hmm, that's down to the ineptitude of your benefits adviser rather than the proper application of welfare I'd say.

Perhaps you should write to the DWP and say you believe you may have been improperly assessed with full details of household income during the claim period. :whistling
 
Will we see the OP post here again? Maybe, but not likely (more likely now that he's been called out just to prove me wrong).

He posted a similar question to the one here:
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/tra...ctive-brokers-reporting-hmrc.html#post1766690

but he failed to be seen again there. In fact most of his new threads he rarely appears again. Also, according to the OP he's been a corporate trader, market maker, etc...
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/pro...ears-too-old-get-job-finance.html#post1030636
but he never returns to the thread to address any of the posts after he asks for advice nor does his years of questions afterwards show any signs that he has any knowledge in that area.

Just my opinion. Others' may differ.

Peter
 
Will we see the OP post here again? Maybe, but not likely (more likely now that he's been called out just to prove me wrong).

He posted a similar question to the one here:
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/tra...ctive-brokers-reporting-hmrc.html#post1766690

but he failed to be seen again there. In fact most of his new threads he rarely appears again. Also, according to the OP he's been a corporate trader, market maker, etc...
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/pro...ears-too-old-get-job-finance.html#post1030636
but he never returns to the thread to address any of the posts after he asks for advice nor does his years of questions afterwards show any signs that he has any knowledge in that area.

Just my opinion. Others' may differ.

Peter

Peter,

Spot on.

Are you saying an unusual individual has somehow made it through the T2W vetting process?! That's never happened before!
 
Hmm, that's down to the ineptitude of your benefits adviser rather than the proper application of welfare I'd say.

Perhaps you should write to the DWP and say you believe you may have been improperly assessed with full details of household income during the claim period. :whistling

during that time i was letting my equity build up some but i did make a couple small withdraws with a total less than 1k.. if id of withdrawn anything more id of probably written yes.. least i know for next time im stuck without work

thanks :)
 
I'm a US citizen trading in the US. Non professional trader. I have a second job and balance whatever expenses I have against whatever I make through both job and trading. I'm becoming too profitable so I will have to do my trading through a business soon to take advantage of other, more, tax breaks. I'm not complaining but trading is so much more than just trading.

Cheers
 
Afaik HMRCs current focus is on implementation of the GAAR. They're also putting together an index of rating accountants based on their clients' compliance which will consider multiple factors. If you're using a poor one, your risk of enquiry will beiincreased. Treasury plays the long game.
 
Afaik HMRCs current focus is on implementation of the GAAR. They're also putting together an index of rating accountants based on their clients' compliance which will consider multiple factors. If you're using a poor one, your risk of enquiry will beiincreased. Treasury plays the long game.

Interesting. Is it true that accountants / book keepers can be somehow reprimanded for submitting dodgy client returns.

I've noticed all kinds of receipts and wotnot in the last few yrs that have not been used when my books were done.
 
No. You'll have signed your life away somewhere. Accountants liability normally stems from negligence claims etc which would come after the end client gets shafted by HMRC but you'd have a hard time getting sh1t to stick if you're looking at accounting records as that respons bility doesn't fall with the bookie.
 
Interesting. Is it true that accountants / book keepers can be somehow reprimanded for submitting dodgy client returns.

I've noticed all kinds of receipts and wotnot in the last few yrs that have not been used when my books were done.

If its expense receipts, it is possible for whatever reason your bookkeeper
did not consider them tax deductible.
Without knowing the details, hard to comment.
If they were valid expense receipts, but were not included,
don't sweat it, all that means is you have overpaid tax as those receipts
were not deducted from net income payments.
All the same, it should be done right.
If you had a random inspection, its the kind of thing that might
make them wonder what else wasn't right...

Personally, as far as books go at least, its easy enough to do yourself:
Print online statements to PDF.
pdfFactory - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com

Get a box file, biscuit tin or whatever for paper till receipts.
Get down to Staples and buy:
Lever Arch Files - Staples
Punched Pockets - Staples
Dividers I Tabs I Fasteners | Inserts - Staples
Buy 2 USB flash drives, maybe CDR /DVDr as backup as well.
USB Flash Drives - Staples

Mark the dividers as bank statements, card statements, HMRC tax, VAT if registered, etc.
Put all paper documents in poly sleeve and file.
For online only statements (bank, trading etc.), print to PDF, and archive to both USB flash drives.
Thats filing and archiving sorted.

Attached is a simple excel template to record all income and expenses.
Nothing fancy but it does the job and totals each column.
Enter all receipts, and income in date order, filling all fields in on each respective tab.
Tax year end. you have total for gross income and gross expenses.
Deduct expense from gross income to give taxable income.
Then at least you know record keeping is OK.

You can then either do your own self assessment online, or let an
accountant do it and see if they can spot any tax savings.
At the very least, doing your own record keeping, filing and books will
reduce accountancy fees.
Has to be done right though...
If you're not sure, leave it to a decent accountant.

Useful links:
Current .gov help files:
https://www.gov.uk/search?q=Taxes,+records+and+returns
More in depth from archive,
note - IGNORE ALL 2008/2009 RATES & THRESHOLDS, this is archive info only, see HMRC for current rates etc.:
[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Set up a basic record-keeping system | Business Link

Brighton bookkeeping « I Hate Bookkeeping
Book Keeping for Beginners | Business Finance | Lloyds TSB Business Help
Book keeping for small businesses
Financial Control Using Self Employed Single Entry Bookkeeping System
 

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