foreign currency bank account at stock broker

[hakase]

Hi all,

I have a foreign currency account at a UK-based stockbroker. The account is used to fund purchases of foreign shares, as well as receiving sale proceeds and dividends in foreign currency. It is a nominee account.

I am unclear as to the capital gains tax implications of foreign currency transactions on this account. Obviously gains and losses on the shares themselves would be liable to CGT.

I am reporting tax as an individual, and have come across CG78321 from the HMRC manual, which says that from 6 April 2012 foreign currency accounts "will not give rise to chargeable gains (or allowable losses)".

However, this raises the question does a nominee account qualify as a "foreign currency account", or not? I think that I could be forgiven for thinking that it does, but would appreciate a more authoritative answer.

thanks in advance!

[hakase]

Looks like someone asked the same question last year:

http://www.taxationweb.co.uk/forum/post ... ml#p172224

I'm not convinced by the answer from welshtrustees though. He quotes the new section 252 of the Finance Act 2012, which states that the exemption only applies to
the foreign currency debts defined as
(a)owed by a bank in a currency other than sterling, and
(b)represented by a sum standing to the credit of an account-holder in an account in that bank.

It seems unbelievably harsh and convoluted to argue that this doesn't apply in this case. But then I'm not a tax lawyer...

[Flatfish]

Hello there,
Just wondering if the OP ever got a satisfactory answer to this query. I have the same situation and I'm trying to establish whether a pile of dollars (about 10k) that accrued in a USD denominated trading account at my broker through dividend payments between 2012 and 2017 (which I then converted back to GBP and withdrew as a lump sum) is eligible for capital gains as a result of the weaking of the pound prior to my withdrawal.
If it is eligible, can I use a simplified method to calculate based on average exchange rates (monthly or yearly)?
Thanks in advance for any advice!