Category: Uncategorized

There’s a clear shortage of fundamental data services for private investors who want reliable information on global markets at a reasonable price. So I’m glad to see that Stockopedia has now added US stocks to its UK and European coverage.

For those who haven’t yet come across Stockopedia, the site provides a huge range of valuation measures and screening tools, including screens based on popular strategies and the styles of notable investing. The underlying fundamental information comes from Thomson Reuters, but all valuation metrics are calculated in-house.

This may not sound like a big deal, but ensuring that financial statistics are calculated in a consistent, accurate and meaningful way across an entire dataset is more difficult than it sounds. Stockopedia’s data quality is superior to any other website that I’ve seen and in some respects seems better than the high-end professional services from Reuters and Bloomberg.

Alliance Trust Savings’ announcement that it will no longer be charging VAT [PDF] on the account fees for its dealing and ISA accounts is a small but welcome saving for clients, with quarterly fees falling from £22.50 to £18.75. But it illustrates a peculiar inconsistency in how UK brokers treat account administration fees and VAT.

HMRC guidance says that charges for certain investment services are not subject to VAT, as this notice sets out. These include brokerage commissions and fees for stock custody, dividend handling and implementing corporate actions.

As a result, if a firm charges an investor a “custody fee” or an “account fee” to cover custody and servicing for their investments, that fee is exempt from VAT. However, if the fee is instead a broader administration fee that pays for other services, the fee will not be exempt.