CGT - 30 day rule - short position

[sdaymond]

CGT: 30 day rule (bed and breakfast) is described as: you have to match trades where you sell shares and then buy them within 30 days.
So you own shares, then you sell it, then some time later you buy it (not the same day, but within 30 day period). So you need to match them as per 30 day rule.
The way the rule is defined makes perfect sense when we are dealing with long positions.

However the question arises how to apply 30 day rule when we have short position ?
We open short position be selling shares first (so we have negative share quantity) and we close the position later by buying shares.

So notice the difference what Buy and Sell have in the Long and Short position:
Long position: Buy means we are opening position, Sell means we are closing position
Short position: Sell means we are opening position, Buy means we are closing position

I think: to make sense of 30 day rule with short position we would need to apply it in reverse: so let's say you have short position, then you buy shares and then you sell shares again within 30 day period : and that should trigger 30 day rule. Agree or not ?

Triggering 30 day rule:
For Long position: Sell then Buy (within 30 days, but not the same day)
For Short position: Buy then Sell (within 30 days, but not the same day) (that's the case I am trying to clarify)

The above would make perfect sense, buy sometimes rules are not always defined in a way that make perfect sense.

So what do you think ? Is the above approach correct ?

[sdaymond]

HMRC info page: it has one example, but it is only for long position:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/shares-and-capital-gains-tax-hs284-self-assessment-helpsheet/hs284-shares-and-capital-gains-tax-2020#how-you-work-out-the-gain-under-the-bed-and-breakfasting-rule

3. How you work out the gain under the ‘bed and breakfasting’ rule
If a disposal of shares is identified with shares acquired within the following 30 days, the gain or loss on disposal is the difference between the net disposal proceeds and the acquisition cost.

This ‘bed and breakfasting’ rule does not apply if the person who made the disposal was not resident in the UK for tax purposes at the time of the acquisition.

3.1 Example 2 continued
Suppose Mr Schneider received £6,000 for the 4,000 shares he sold and paid £850 for the 500 he had bought a few days later. Because he bought additional shares within 30 days of making the disposal, 500 of the shares sold are not matched with shares in the holding. They are identified with the 500 shares bought on 11 September 2019.

The gain or loss on those shares is calculated as follows:

Disposal proceeds (apportioned 500/4,000 × £6,000) £750
Allowable cost £850
Loss £100

[sdaymond]

Share identification rules for capital gains tax from 6.4.2008: identifying disposals

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/capital-gains-manual/cg51555

[rynkowsg]

All of the HMRC docs talk evidently about long positions - applying B&B rule for acquisition following disposals withing 30 days. They don't state the rules in terms of opening and closing a position, That might suggest that crystallization of profit for short positions might be still possible.

@sdaymond have you figured it out?