M&G Wealth adds CGT tool to platform
M&G Wealth has added a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) tool to its platform enabling advisers to carry out complex calculations and test different planning scenarios for clients.
The move comes as the Treasury pushes ahead with plans to cut the CGT allowances from next month.
The current Capital Gains tax annual exemption allowance of £12,300 will be cut to £6,000 from April and to £3,000 from April 2024.
An estimated 500,000 to 570,000 people could be affected by the increased taxation, according to government figures.
The new CGT tool from M&G Wealth is called ‘Cobalt’ and is the first ‘microservice’ on the M&G Wealth Platform.
Users of the platform can update the acquisition price of assets, assess ‘what if’ scenarios on CGT implications and take account of all client assets, on or off platform.
Cobalt can include all types of open-ended and closed-ended funds, ETFs, and listed equities, including those held in model portfolios or third-party DFM services, M&G Wealth says.
The tool allows advisers to achieve optimum outcomes for clients by making full use of the current CGT allowance or realising specific sums of money. It shows which assets could be sold to generate any target amount while at the same time determining what combination of assets would either minimise or maximise the capital gain on proceeds.
Advisers can use the tool across the whole portfolio or select specific holdings in any calculation. The tool will then generate a summary for use in client discussions.
Justin Blower, platform sales director at M&G Wealth, said: “Cobalt considers the best combination of assets to achieve optimum CGT outcomes for advisers and their clients. With the personal CGT allowance halved in the next tax year advisers may need to conduct CGT calculations more often to keep clients realised taxable gains within the new £6,000 limit."