Readers' forum : Offsetting losses

My clients are a husband and wife who have recently sold a property used for furnished holiday lettings. They made a net gain of £40 000 (£20 000 each) after deducting costs and allowances.

To reduce this taxable gain they plan to sell some shares that are standing at a loss. At present these shares are in the husband’s name so they will need to transfer some of them to the wife and then each sell enough to offset the gain.

However these shares were all acquired at different times over ten years through the husband’s company share scheme as part of his remuneration package.

My question is about the value of the shares when transferred to the wife. If it is the pooled value I believe that would be straightforward but if the transfer value is the husband’s purchase value this will require careful calculation of...