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Where Taxpayers and Advisers Meet

Working in Spain but selling US shares to UK

Orias
Posts:3
Joined:Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:59 am
Working in Spain but selling US shares to UK

Postby Orias » Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:12 pm

Hi all,

Bear with me on this, I know the title looks a bit complicated :D. I hope this is the right forum to ask this.

I am a UK citizen, but my job was moved from the UK to Madrid (Spain) a few years ago where I am currently a registered tax-payer.
I also have a portfolio of shares in the US company that I work for (held by Etrade), and therefore they are in dollars.

I am looking at potentially selling a large number of these shares, with the intention of transferring them to my UK bank account, but I have literally no idea how the tax would work on this and where/how much I would have to pay.

So I would be selling shares in $ (in a US company) to transfer them to my UK bank account, whilst I am currently a tax resident in Spain. Has anyone done this, or know where I should start?

I hope that made some sense?
Thanks very much

AmanSood
Posts:216
Joined:Mon Jan 09, 2017 4:12 pm

Re: Working in Spain but selling US shares to UK

Postby AmanSood » Mon Jan 30, 2017 11:07 am

Hi Orias, starting point is your country of tax residence as they will normally have taxing rights so it's likely that Spain would want to tax the disposal of shares and any gains arising as a result even if not brought into spain/paid into a UK bank account.

Aman
Advising on UK employment, expatriate and personal taxes
aman.sood@e-taxconsulting.com.
+44 (0) 207 846 0155

Orias
Posts:3
Joined:Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:59 am

Re: Working in Spain but selling US shares to UK

Postby Orias » Mon Jan 30, 2017 1:49 pm

Thanks Aman,

That's very helpful. It's what I suspected, but wasn't 100% sure. Hopefully Spain has lower rates than the UK in this instance :)

I think I'll need to get someone in the profession to help me out anyway, as all the long-term, short-term, capital gains etc stuff just ends up confusing me. But it's good to be able to get a ballpark figure of roughly what I might have to pay in a worst-case scenario so I can plan accordingly.

Cheers!

AmanSood
Posts:216
Joined:Mon Jan 09, 2017 4:12 pm

Re: Working in Spain but selling US shares to UK

Postby AmanSood » Fri Feb 03, 2017 10:38 am

Actually I think the spain capital gains tax rates are worse than the UK!! 10%/20% UK vs 19%/21% Spain depending on the level of your gain. Definitely worth seeking advice before selling your shares particularly if you plan to return to the UK.
Advising on UK employment, expatriate and personal taxes
aman.sood@e-taxconsulting.com.
+44 (0) 207 846 0155

Orias
Posts:3
Joined:Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:59 am

Re: Working in Spain but selling US shares to UK

Postby Orias » Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:41 pm

Thanks again Aman, very interesting.

The plan is always to return to the UK, and ultimately these shares are to put towards a property.
Just right now, the share price is very good and the $/£ rates are nice, so it seems like it's certainly worth investigating.

Cheers


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