Sharesave maturing

[PropJoe]

Hi all,

I have a company sharesave expiring later this year and fortunately it's looking like a very healthy profit at the moment.
I will have invested 18k, and at the current share price it should be worth around 40k.

I'm looking at the best approach to sell those shares in the most tax efficient way - as it looks like CGT has dropped to 6k from the start of the next tax year.
From doing some research I am considering the below:

• Move 20k of shares into my stocks ISA, sell those for 0 CGT. Re-invest the ISA cash in Index funds.
• Gift 20k of shares to my spouse (in her stocks ISA), she can sell those for 0 CGT. Re-invest the ISA cash in Index funds.
• Any excess can go in a general taxed account but will be small so wouldn't incur CGT

Obviously, this means we cannot invest any other savings in our ISA's that year but I would use my taxed account instead and move to ISA in future years (bed and ISA).
Anyone have similar experience/thoughts/advice on this topic?

[RecklessSaving]

Option into your ISA will only work if your sharesave offers it as a none taxable event, you’ll need to speak to your scheme administrator to see if the terms of the scheme support it.  I don’t think putting some in your partner’s ISA will work, I think the transfer will be viewed as a taxable event as ownership is changing.

Excess into GIA, only option to reduce CGT is to put more of your other income into pension with aim to more some of the gain into lower tax bracket.  Without knowing your full income streams I’ll assume this isn’t feasible with a large £22k profit.

[PhilB]

If your ISA provider and your scheme administrator support it, then the ISA route for £20k looks good.  I don't believe the same option would apply for your wife though - not that this should be a problem.

Assuming you have no other chargeable gains, the obvious route would seem to be:

• £20k direct to your ISA if allowed
• £10k transfer to wife (no CGT) which she then sells for a £5.5k profit which is within the £6k allowance
• Final £10k you sell for a £5.5k profit which is again within the £6k allowance

If the ISA thing can't be done, then transfer half to your wife and each of you sell enough each year to use your CGT allowance.

[PropJoe]

Thanks both for your feedback.
I checked with the sharesave provider and sounds like ISA transfer is possible but transfer to spouse is not.
I'll go with your suggested approach Phil, i.e. split the remaining balance between mine and my wife's general accounts.