Tax shelter plan for BT investors

SHAREHOLDERS in BT are being offered the chance to put their fully-paid shares into a single company personal equity plan that will shelter the dividends from income tax and the shares from any capital gains tax.

The offer, from Halifax Building Society, is going out with the report to shareholders accompanying the final dividend.

Partly-paid shares bought as part of the second sell-off are not eligible for the plan. The minimum investment is pounds 1,000 and the legal maximum is pounds 3,000.

It costs pounds 25 plus 0.2 per cent of the value of the shareholding to invest, plus 0.5 per cent a year. There is also a charge of pounds 20 for withdrawals during the first year and pounds 15 thereafter.

The plan can also take cash investment, in which case the initial charge is reduced to pounds 20.