garfieldtheunclean

So confirmation from HMRC as follows: - This was confirming that as @Caseynotes says, margin isn't counted as a cost and the "disposal proceeds" is just the "contract difference" (plus dividends etc) and that my previous post about what to include in "Allowable Costs" and "Disposal proceeds" is correct. This confirms however that, even is using the underlying cost (even if it wasn't actually spent) is still fine. Basically I take from this that they don't really mind how the numbers are derived - provided the final figure is correct. And finally, this confirms that pooling is not required and so the aggregate reports for closed positions during the tax year is all that's required. Thanks all.

Brilliant, thanks @igreen. So I think the report naming has changed slightly since that guidance, but it basically reflects the "transaction summary" we can download today - and their guidance does follow the simple HMRC guidance example here https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/capital-gains-manual/cg56101. There's no reference in the guidance about pooling/same day/30 day as applied to traditional shares, etc. It appears therefore that each "contract" is a separate entity, and it doesn't matter that they follow the underlying share or "instrument" - it's just a gain or loss. If they've not questioned your submission - did you have overlaps which, if they were normal shares would have been subject to these rules? If so and they didn't question, that sounds promising. Further, this link suggests that a CFD of "company X" is not the same as a share in "company X" Bed and Breakfast Deal Definition (investopedia.com). @Caseynotes on your point of margin not being cost, that makes sense and is the conclusion I was coming to after thinking about this quite a lot last night. The way I see it when summarising everything: - "Allowable Costs" will be generally commission and funding interest ( and things like dividends for short positions) "Disposal proceeds" will be the "difference" plus any dividends (and things like funding interest for short positions) The difference between those gives the overall gain or loss. The only "odd" thing I can see here is that the "proceeds" from a loss making contract will be negative, and I don't know whether that would work on the forms - i.e. effectively selling something for a negative amount of money. I have asked a separate question to HMRC on the pooling and on the "allowable costs"/"disposal proceeds" and will update here if I get anything useful back.

Hi Wondering how people who are doing CFD trading manage to do their CFG calculations for HMRC? It's easy to download a transactions summary from IG, and that gives all details of a position including open, close, size, dividends, interest, commission and overall profit/loss for each trade. However, I'm sceptical whether this is sufficient for HMRC. For example: - It doesn't take into account same day and 30 day rules It doesn't show the "margin" - so it's not possible to calculate the actual "allowable cost" etc which is the sort of figures that HMRC deal in As per the attached - the simple thing to do would be just to attach the report and add up the summaries, but because of the lack of margin% in the report you can't work out "cost" and "proceeds", and it doesn't take into account section 104 pools, same day and 30 day rules. So am interested in what CFD traders have done to make this work? For example: - Do multiple buys/sells of the same underlying instrument actually count as "the same" - or as they all have unique "references" can you actually treat them individually? For "allowable cost" can you just use what the share "would have cost" ignoring margin? Margin can change over time - e.g. it might be 15% when you open it, but the margin may change to 25% whilst the position is still open, so "cost" isn't really a notion that makes sense. Any advice appreciated. Thanks