How to transfer shares to Freetrade

[paulwbc]

I'm leaving royal mail after 28 years service and i want to transfer my free sip shares, from royal mail to an app ive got called freetrade.
I believe I have to set up a stocks and shares isa with freetrade, but i dont know how to transfer from Equiniti?
Can anyone help me please?

[cheerful]

I've not bought shares through my wages, and I joined too late to get free shares, so I don't know if RM have any oddities, but I have dabbled with share dealing for many years.

There is something called an in-specie transfer, where shares are transferred without being sold, but it's a pain in the arse for share dealing company, so very few offer that service.

Most share dealing companies will just ask you to sell the previous shares and transfer it over as cash.

I'm also assuming your RM shares aren't in an ISA, you can only put £20k in an ISA per year, so that might be a problem (you could transfer £20k now, and any excess next April). If the Equiniti shares are already in an ISA, you can do an ISA transfer (although they'll probably ask you to sell the shares, keep the cash in the ISA, and transfer the ISA over to FreeTrade, then rebuy the shares).

Unfortunately, dealing in UK shares tends to have a 0.5% stamp duty, so selling them in one place and buying them elsewhere will have a small fee (plus whatever your broker charges).

I've used both FreeTrade and Trading212 (and a few other brokers), but quit FreeTrade after they put up their monthly ISA fees, while the Trading212 is still "free" (they have a very reasonable non-sterling fee). If you've already opened the FreeTrade ISA this year, then you're stuck with them for now (they aren't too bad though, there are worse options).

I'm a tiny bit wary of the newer online only brokers, and they tend to encourage you to treat your shares as a gambling game, and although they'll probably be around for decades more, there is something to be said for going for a traditional "too big to fail" bank (even if the fees are higher).

If the shares aren't in an ISA already, then you could be liable for Capital Gains Tax when you sell them. You're allowed to make £6k profit on them (so if you bought them for £5k and sold them for £11k you'll pay nothing), but I've always had my shares in ISA's (which are exempt from Capital Gains Tax), so I'm not too sure how getting shares for free affects Capital Gains Tax.

[paulwbc]

Maybe the best thing to do is sell them and rebuy them on freetrade. I only have 913 shares valued at around £2300 so will not put them in an ISA yet as freetrade charges a monthly fee for stocks and shares ISA.
I already have shares in freetrade valued atm at £4200. So hopefully if in the future I buy more shares I can then set up a stocks and shares ISA and transfer all my freetrade shares into the ISA?

[RobertT]

I left RM a few months ago.
I got a letter from Equiniti 2-3 weeks later saying I had to remove the free shares from the SIP.

From memory I think it gave me 3 options: Sell, transfer to RM nominee account or transfer into my own name.
But I no longer have the paperwork to confirm!

I assume you can move them to Freetrade via option 3?

[koolishy67]

Sell

[posted]

Might have to take them out of SIP and initially hold them in certified form, in your name. Equinti will charge you ~£25 for the privilege.

Then hope FreeTrade accepts the certificate at nil cost

[paulwbc]

I sold them and now intend to open a stocks and shares ISA with freetrade and rebuy the shares.