Spread Betting Tax Free
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Spread Betting Tax Free
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Spread betting allows traders to bet on the direction of a financial market without actually owning the underlying security. Spread betting is sometimes promoted as a tax-free, commission-free activity that allows investors to speculate in both bull and bear markets, but this remains banned in the U.S. Like stock trades, spread bet risks can be mitigated using stop loss and take profit orders.
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Spread betting refers to speculating on the direction of a financial market without actually owning the underlying security.
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Spread betting is a derivative strategy, in which participants do not own the underlying asset they bet on, such as a stock or commodity. Rather, spread bettors simply speculate on whether the asset's price will rise or fall, using the prices offered to them by a broker.
As in stock market trading, two prices are quoted for spread bets—a price at which you can buy (bid price) and a price at which you can sell (ask price). The difference between the buy and sell price is referred to as the spread. The spread-betting broker profits from this spread, and this allows spread bets to be made without commissions, unlike most securities trades.
Investors align with the bid price if they believe the market will rise and go with the ask if they believe it will fall. Key characteristics of spread betting include the use of leverage, the ability to go both long and short, the wide variety of markets available, and tax benefits.
If spread betting sounds like something you might do in a sports bar, you're not far off. Charles K. McNeil, a mathematics teacher who became a securities analyst—and later a bookmaker—in Chicago during the 1940s has been widely credited with inventing the spread-betting concept. But its origins as an activity for professional financial-industry traders happened roughly 30 years later, on the other side of the Atlantic. A City of London investment banker, Stuart Wheeler, founded a firm named IG Index in 1974, offering spread betting on gold. At the time, the gold market was prohibitively difficult to participate in for many, and spread betting provided an easier way to speculate on it.
Despite its American roots, spread betting is illegal in the United States.
Let's use a practical example to illustrate the pros and cons of this derivative market and the mechanics of placing a bet. First, we'll take an example in the stock market, and then we'll look at an equivalent spread bet.
For our stock market trade, let's assume a purchase of 1,000 shares of Vodafone (LSE: VOD ) at £193.00. The price goes up to £195.00 and the position is closed, capturing a gross profit of £2,000 and having made £2 per share on 1,000 shares. Note here several important points. Without the use of margin, this transaction would have required a large capital outlay of £193k. Also, normally commissions would be charged to enter and exit the stock market trade. Finally, the profit may be subject to capital gains tax and stamp duty.
Now, let's look at a comparable spread bet. Making a spread bet on Vodafone, we'll assume with the bid-offer spread you can buy the bet at £193.00. In making this spread bet, the next step is to decide what amount to commit per "point," the variable that reflects the price move. The value of a point can vary.
In this case, we will assume that one point equals a one pence change, up or down, in the Vodaphone share price. We'll now assume a buy or "up bet" is taken on Vodaphone at a value of £10 per point. The share price of Vodaphone rises from £193.00 to £195.00, as in the stock market example. In this case, the bet captured 200 points, meaning a profit of 200 x £10, or £2,000.
While the gross profit of £2,000 is the same in the two examples, the spread bet differs in that there are usually no commissions incurred to open or close the bet and no stamp duty or capital gains tax due. In the U.K. and some other European countries, the profit from spread betting is free from tax.
However, while spread bettors do not pay commissions, they may suffer from the bid-offer spread, which may be substantially wider than the spread in other markets. Keep in mind also that the bettor has to overcome the spread just to break even on a trade. Generally, the more popular the security traded, the tighter the spread, lowering the entry cost .
In addition to the absence of commissions and taxes, the other major benefit of spread betting is that the required capital outlay is dramatically lower. In the stock market trade, a deposit of as much as £193,000 may have been required to enter the trade. In spread betting, the required deposit amount varies, but for the purpose of this example, we will assume a required 5% deposit. This would have meant that a much smaller £9,650 deposit was required to take on the same amount of market exposure as in the stock market trade.
The use of leverage works both ways, of course, and herein lies the danger of spread betting. As the market moves in your favor, higher returns will be realized; on the other hand, as the market moves against you, you will incur greater losses. While you can quickly make a large amount of money on a relatively small deposit, you can lose it just as fast.
If the price of Vodaphone fell in the above example, the bettor may eventually have been asked to increase the deposit or even have had the position closed out automatically. In such a situation, stock market traders have the advantage of being able to wait out a down move in the market, if they still believe the price is eventually heading higher.
Despite the risk that comes with the use of high leverage, spread betting offers effective tools to limit losses .
Risk can also be mitigated by the use of arbitrage, betting two ways simultaneously.
Arbitrage opportunities arise when the prices of identical financial instruments vary in different markets or among different companies. As a result, the financial instrument can be bought low and sold high simultaneously. An arbitrage transaction takes advantage of these market inefficiencies to gain risk-free returns.
Due to widespread access to information and increased communication, opportunities for arbitrage in spread betting and other financial instruments have been limited. However, spread betting arbitrage can still occur when two companies take separate stances on the market while setting their own spreads.
At the expense of the market maker, an arbitrageur bets on spreads from two different companies. When the top end of a spread offered by one company is below the bottom end of another’s spread, the arbitrageur profits from the gap between the two. Simply put, the trader buys low from one company and sells high in another. Whether the market increases or decreases does not dictate the amount of return.
Many different types of arbitrage exist, allowing for the exploitation of differences in interest rates, currencies, bonds, and stocks, among other securities. While arbitrage is typically associated with risk-less profit, there are in fact risks associated with the practice, including execution , counterparty, and liquidity risks. Failure to complete transactions smoothly can lead to significant losses for the arbitrageur. Likewise, counterparty and liquidity risks can come from the markets or a company’s failure to fulfill a transaction.
Continually developing in sophistication with the advent of electronic markets, spread betting has successfully lowered the barriers to entry and created a vast and varied alternative marketplace.
Arbitrage, in particular, lets investors exploit the difference in prices between two markets, specifically when two companies offer different spreads on identical assets.
The temptation and perils of being overleveraged continue to be a major pitfall in spread betting. However, the low capital outlay necessary, risk management tools available, and tax benefits make spread betting a compelling opportunity for speculators.
Do I Have to Pay Tax on Spread Betting?
Key Points: Do you pay tax on spread betting?
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The image of spread betting as a gambling activity is carried on through the way in which spread betting gains are taxed in the UK, and for the purposes of tax, it remains quite a useful association. Remember – spread betting isn’t really gambling insofar as you can legitimately predict the outcome with logic and reason (rather than relying solely on chance or an individual performance), but as far as the UK tax authorities are concerned it’s a straightforward wager. Tax treatment might seem like an ancillary issue, but it’s actually extremely important, and can make the difference between a profitable trade and an unprofitable one, and the favourable tax treatment of spread betting ultimately leaves more of your earnings untaxed.
Financial spread betting is only available in the UK and Ireland – no Capital Gains Tax*, no Stamp Duty, no Income Tax
Spread trading is regulated by the FCA but treated as a gambling activity for tax purposes
In other countries, such as the US and Australia, you would need to use other trading products such as CFDs or futures
To start examining the way in which spread betting is taxed, let’s look at how traditional share transactions are taxed as a basis for comparison. Bear in mind, it is possible to spread bet on the performance of individual shares where offered by your broker, thus it is plausible that you could invest in exactly the same trade in the share and spread betting markets with entirely different results.
A share transaction sees the transfer of ownership in a share, an asset. For starters, shares in the UK are liability to the payment of Stamp Duty, a form of tax that is applied on the total value of a transaction, expressed as a minimal percentage – for example, Stamp Duty for shares sat at 0.5% of transaction size. Particularly for leveraged transactions, this can be a significant tax liability to pay on each and every transaction over the threshold value. Without going too far into the intricacies of Stamp Duty and how it is calculated, this liability can be instantly removed from the equation when dealing with spread betting.
In order to realise a profit on a share transaction, you generally have to resell your shares, and this speculation with the intention to resell tends to be the core reason for most share purchases. This is where the most considerable tax burden comes into play – at the point of disposal. Capital Gains Tax is paid by UK individuals on any gains made on the disposal of capital. Effectively, CGT performs the same function as income tax on capital profits, and is charged at different rates depending on your level of capital and income. Not only is CGT expensive, but it is also highly complicated, and can be a significant administrative burden for traders, not to mention its financial impact.
In spread betting, no assets are changing hands, no transaction is taking place, no assets are being sold. It’s merely an intangible bet, or agreement between the trader and the broker, and it is taxed as a pure gambling activity – that means at a rate of 0%. The exception to the rule is where spread betting forms the core of your day to day income, at which point you will be liable to income tax on your earnings as with any other trade, business or job; in other words, you only pay tax if you run spread betting as a business. However, as a starting point this can save a substantial proportion of your profits from the hands of the taxman, leaving more cash in your pocket at the end of the day.
Assume the rate of CGT (Capital Gains Tax) is 20% and Stamp Duty is charged at 0.5%, (with all other reliefs and allowances exempted for simplicity’s sake). Buy 1000 £1 shares in Company X which you sell for £1.05 would yield a profit of £50, less 20.5%, which leaves £39.75 in profit. With a spread betting transaction on the same shares, you would be more considerably leveraged, earning a 500% return, which in turn would be tax free.
The significant savings afforded by the more preferable taxation of spread betting gains are one of the major pull factors for traders, and particularly when combined with the leverage effect of spread betting, can have a dramatic impact on the profitability of your trading activities.
Question: Are spread bets tax deductible?
Answer: Spread bet profits are tax-free and you get to keep all your profits but you can’t offset those losses against other capital gains. Let’s look at the example below.
Let’s look at the following scenario: you want to sell some equities and make a nice profit of £50,000 but at the same time you had a £50,000 investment in shares of another company which just went bust. In this case, you can offset your capital losses against capital gains, thus you have £0 net capital gain and you pay £0 in CGT.
Same scenario but this time you spread bet on shares: As financial spread betting is tax free, you can’t offset your losses against capital gains and thus you’d still have to pay Capital Gains Tax on the £50,000 profit you make from the sale of equities, even though you actually made no profit from these two transactions.
Question: Is financial spread betting really tax free?
Answer: Yes, this type of trading involves no taxes and you don’t need to report any profits or losses to the HMRC, just like with any other gambling activity.
Question: Is there any tax in the EU or Australia?
Answer: Financial spread trading is only available in the UK and Ireland, in other countries you would need to use other trading instruments such as futures or shares and these products are subject to tax.
Answer: Unfortunately, more than 70% of traders lose money and since spread bet traders can’t offset those losses against capital gains, the taxman in the UK actually benefits from this regime. Also, as spread betting falls under the gambling regime, the taxman collects more tax from your provider.
One of the key advantages of spread betting is that it is taxed accordingly to considerably more favourable rules than other forms of trading. Essentially, spread betting is regarded by UK tax law as a gambling activity, and therefore the profits from spread betting are tax free – i.e., there is no capital gains tax to pay on the earnings generated. Because spread betting is based on asset prices, rather than trading in the assets themselves, it is also exempt from stamp duty, which when added to the CGT savings makes spread betting an even more attractive investment style.
Spread betting can attract tax liability in the instance that it becomes the trader’s main source of income, at which point earnings are subjected to income tax according to the normal income tax laws. However, for the most part spread betting is a potentially highly lucrative, tax free form of trading.
Independent Investor is a news and educational portal covering latest events in the world of trading and investment. Information on this website is for informative purposes only. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs, forex, and spread betting. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Independent Investor offers an unbiased and independent broker comparison service, but we may receive compensation from the listed brokers.
Why is spread betting still tax free? Anecdotally speaking of course…
Trading / By
Richard Berry
/ 13th November 2018 25th August 2022
Richard founded the Good Money Guide (previously Good Broker Guide) in 2015 and has been a broker for 20 years most recently at Investors Intelligence and previously a multi-asset derivatives broker at MF Global (Man Financial). Richard started his career working as a private client stockbroker at Walker Crips and Phillip Securities (now King and Shaxson) after interning on the NYMEX oil trading floor in New York and London IPE in 2001 & 2000.
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The factual reason spread betting is tax-free for profits is because the trades are structured as a bet. i.e. I bet you £10 for every point the FTSE goes up etc.
Therefore it is structured as a bet and as with all gambling, exempt from capital gains tax.
Rumour has it that back when spread betting was in its heyday and the big firms were in their infancy the Government got their
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