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US shares and UK tax: Robinhood, Interactive Brokers and Trading 212

How UK residents work out gains on US shares in pounds, which shares a sale is matched with, and how US tax taken off dividends is treated.

This guide is general information about how the rules work. It is not tax advice.

Who this is for

You live in the UK and hold shares in US companies through a broker such as Robinhood, Interactive Brokers or Trading 212, outside an ISA. You have sold some, received dividends, or both.

How the rule works

UK residents pay tax on their UK and foreign gains, and normally on their foreign income. Shares that are not in an ISA or PEP are chargeable assets, so you may have to pay Capital Gains Tax when you sell them for more than they cost.

Your gain is usually the difference between what you paid for the shares and what you sold them for. You can deduct costs such as stockbrokers' fees.

Working in pounds. HMRC's Capital Gains Manual (CG78310) says that when US shares are bought for dollars, their cost is the sterling equivalent of the dollars at the exchange rate on the date you bought them, and the proceeds of a sale are converted at the rate on the date you sold. The gain is not worked out in dollars and then converted at the end. HMRC does not prescribe which exchange rate to use, but expects a reasonable and consistent method.

Which shares a sale uses. Shares of the same class in the same company are matched in the order HMRC helpsheet HS284 sets out: first shares acquired on the same day as the sale; then shares acquired in the 30 days after it (the 'bed and breakfasting' rule, which applies only if you were UK resident when you bought them); then the 'Section 104 holding', which pools all your other shares in that company at their average cost. Anything left is matched with later purchases, earliest first.

You need to report and pay if your total taxable gains are above the £3,000 tax-free allowance. If you are registered for Self Assessment you may need to report gains below it too, when the total you sold assets for is over the limit gov.uk sets. gov.uk: work out if you need to pay →

Dividends. Dividends from US companies are foreign income, taxed in the UK as dividends. For 2025 to 2026 the first £500 is covered by the dividend allowance; above it the rates are 8.75% in the basic rate band, 33.75% in the higher rate band and 39.35% in the additional rate band.

US tax is often taken off a dividend before you receive it. You can usually claim Foreign Tax Credit Relief for it on your return. Under HS263 the credit is the lower of the foreign tax paid — or the amount the double taxation agreement allows, if that is smaller — and the UK tax on the same dividend. If you have paid no UK tax on a dividend because it is within the dividend allowance, you cannot claim the relief on it. Foreign tax above what the agreement allows is not credited in the UK; HS263 says it may be recoverable from the foreign tax authority. Foreign dividends with tax taken off →

What to gather

  • Your broker's trade confirmations or annual statements: the date, number of shares, price and fees of every purchase and sale, in dollars.
  • Your purchase history for any company you still held at the start of the year — it sets the average cost of your Section 104 holding.
  • Dividend statements showing each dividend before tax and the US tax taken off.
  • The exchange rates you used and where they came from, applied the same way throughout.

Where it goes on the return

Gains go on the Capital Gains Tax summary pages (SA108). Shares in a company listed on a recognised stock exchange go in the 'Listed shares and securities' section — boxes 23 to 30 on the 2025 to 2026 pages.

Foreign dividends go on the 'Foreign' pages (SA106), under 'Dividends from foreign companies'. For each country you give its 3-letter code (USA for the United States), the dividend before any tax was taken off, and the foreign tax taken off, all in pounds; you put an 'X' in the column for claiming Foreign Tax Credit Relief. The SA106 notes say to convert the income into pounds using the exchange rate at the time the income arose.

How Taxseas handles it

Taxseas covers:

  • Capital gains — shares, funds & crypto
  • Dividends from shares or funds
  • Foreign income

Upload the documents above in any format and Taxseas reads what it needs. You see every figure Taxseas extracts and can adjust anything that is off. Today, Taxseas prepares your complete, reviewed return and gives you the exact figures to enter in your HMRC online account. See what Taxseas covers →

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