Shares, Gifts and minimising Capital Gains Tax

[stoneybroke]

As I approach middle age I have never before had to consider the implications of Capital Gains Tax, but I now find a situation where it does have implications for my extended family.
A parent holds over 1000 shares which they received as part of inheritance from their father in 1999. The shares were actually left to the adult grandchild, but for family reasons the executors agreed to the wishes of the grandchild and allowed the transfer of those shares to their parent (the child of the deceased).
Time moves on, and the parent now wishes to pass the shares back to their child - the original beneficiary.
The shares in question have grown in value exceptionally, they are now worth ten-times their 1999 value.
My question, therefore, is how best to limit the Capital Gains Tax that could be due on the growth of the shares.
The current share owner has not used any CGT allowance, and is married - the spouse has no CGT liabilities.
Reading on the subject, the shares could be gifted in portions, over a few years, keeping the value below the CGT allowance - but this could take several years before the transfer is complete.
What are the options of using the route of gifting some to the spouse (free of CGT), before passing it to the child to shorten the period taken to transfer ownership of all the shares? Is there a period of time which is seen as appropriate before a gift to a spouse is passed down? What is the point when the the base value is taken for CGT on the portion gifted to the spouse for their CGT liability?
Does the original change from the will make any difference?
As you can imagine, this family is not a wealthy one, but this extraordinary growth of the shares would, without careful planning, be eroded by CGT, even though the current owner and the intended recipient are not income tax payers, and haven't touched any CGT allowance in the last 14 years.
All advice/suggestions are welcome.
Many Thanks

[AvocadoK]

Hello,
Can you say whether the shares are
a. in a quoted or unquoted company
b. in a trading or investment company?
Thanks

[stoneybroke]

They are shares in a FTSE 100 company, held personally. Does that help?

[AvocadoK]

Thanks. It rules out certain options!

Yes, you could give to wife, and she may then make gifts. She should make sure that the share transfer is complete (and registered with the registrar) before gifting. Ideally, wait to receive a dividend, just to prove that she really does have beneficial ownership.

To speed up the process, you could each set up discretionary trusts for for the benefit of the next generation. Each of you can transfer £325k into a discretionary trust without incurring tax (assuming you have no previous transfers into trust). The capital gain on the gift can be 'held over' - which means no tax at the point of transfer.

A disadvantage with a trust is that they pay the top rate of tax on dividends.

The trust does not need to last a long time. It might decide after a year or so to transfer the shares to individuals. Again, the gain on transfer is not chargeable to tax.

Just an idea - you'd need legal/tax advice to do it properly so it works as intended.