Share Sale loss 2001/2002/2003 - roll loss forward

Hi,
I have bought a sold some shares in the years 2001/2002 and 2003.
I lost money on those transactions.

If I was to buy some shares this year and later made a profit this year could I use the loss generated in those years to avoid having to pay CGT on a profit in 2014?

If yes then is there any paperwork/forms that would need to have been filed back then or this year?

thanks

First thing is first - the system is self assessment so it's up to you to claim relief for any losses you have carrying forward.

However you must also be able to stand over these losses, in the event that Revenue query or audit your current returns.

If you have been filing tax returns all along you could / should have been entering the amount of the CGT losses you had carrying forward, that way if you make a gain and use the losses in a later year, when Revenue look at it they'll see you were carrying the losses forward for several years...

That's not to say that there'll necessarily be any difficulty with the issue when you do come to make the gain and use the losses, but you'll see how from Revenue's perspective you suddenly and conveniently having a loss that they never knew about previously could give rise to a question.

thanks.

unfortunately around 2001 i was a young paye worker and knew little about tax returns.

i did not file a tax return in those years as i thought that i was covered by the paye system and i did not make a profit on the shares.

I have my transaction history from my online share account showing all transactions that make up the loss. This should hopefully be sufficent evidence of the loss.

Apart from filing a self assement for 2014 - what else do I need to do?

thanks

Assuming you're still a PAYE taxpayer, you simply file a Form CG1 early next year.