Acquisition cost unknown, foreign capital gains

Hi, I am tax resident in the UK. In 2022-23 I sold shares in Finland, some of which I had held for a long time. Under the tax treaty between Finland UK I'm liable for tax on the gains in the UK. The total gain exceeds £12,300. 1) A small proportion of the shares were acquired some time before 2000 and I have no documentation for them, i.e. no exact date (or even year) and no original cost. How do I work out the acquisition cost? 2) I acquired more shares in the same company through a free 1:3 bonus issue. Do I use the share price on the date of the issue as the acquisition cost? I'm hoping these are simple questions to answer. Thanks!

Hi hennie70,
You will need to contact the company that you purchaed the shares from or check with the London Stock Exchange to see if they have figures in their archive for the day they were purchased. They may charge a fee for this.
Thank you.


 

It is a Finnish company, not quoted on the London Stock Exchange. I have contacted the company directly, but they don't hold any information on individual share purchases. The problem is that the shares were gifted to me by my Dad, who is no longer with us, and he didn't leave any documentation to show when these shares were bought, so it is pretty well impossible to establish the exact acquisition price. The earliest written proof that I have of their existence is from the year 2000, when I received dividends from the company in question. Would it be acceptable to HMRC to use the share price from that date as the original acquisition cost? Thanks.

Hi
You would be looking at the date that these were gifted to you so if this is in 2000 for the evidence that you hold, then yes.