Dominic Coyle answers your questions.

Missing Standard Life's deadline

I am a very disappointed Standard Life customer. I got all the documentation relating to the flotation and I intended to purchase some shares under the member discount scheme. I also received an offer of free shares.

I went abroad on holiday on June 20th and returned on July 6th to find post delivered from Standard Life with a cut-off date of Wednesday, July 5th for applying for discounted shares. I don't even know when the letter was posted as the date on the letter is simply and rather vaguely stated as "June 2006".

I phoned the helpline but they simply said tough luck! Is the company within its rights to refuse my application now given the unreasonable timescale?

Mr G.McG., e-mail

It's little consolation but the answer you got from the helpline pretty much sums up the situation. These flotations run to a tight timetable.

In this case, the letters for Irish shareholders were posted on June 19th and 20th, the company tells me, following publication of the prospectus.

It would appear that you were genuinely unlucky but, given that you knew the flotation was coming, end-June/early-July was always likely to be a critical time for the organisation of share offers and other issues. With the shares floating on July 10th, there would have been no time after the 6th to get mail through and allocations organised.

In fact, back on April 18th, when Standard Life informed all members by circular of the plans for flotation, the documents stated that details of preferential share allocations would be sent out in June and that should have flagged the issue for you.

In essence, the company is entirely within its rights and it does not appear that this was an unreasonable timeframe. There was a two-week window to reply. It was simply your bad fortune to have scheduled your holidays for that period. Of course, you do still have the free share allocation.

Choosing between Vodafone options

I rang Vodafone's helpline to help me with my enquiries since I read your article. I pay no income tax so I should be going for Alternative 2, like you said.

This is the advice I received from the helpline: If you have not paid or are about to pay capital gains tax, go for no 1. At Alternative 2, they will be deducting income tax at source at 10 per cent, so no 1 is for me.

I would not be paying above €1,270 for the couple of hundred shares I have. Is that right or not?

Mr J.G., e-mail

It is certainly true, in general, that the UK tax authorities require companies paying dividends to shareholders to withhold tax amounting to 10 per cent of the dividend. It is also the case that Irish shareholders are no longer able to recover this withholding tax, even if they have no income tax liability in this State.

However, the Vodafone circular to shareholders outlining the proposed return of capital says that Vodafone "will not be required to withhold tax at source when paying the initial B share dividend".

I have subsequently checked that again with the people at Vodafone and they confirm it is the case.

In your case, quite honestly, it doesn't appear to matter. Under Alternative 1, you will receive the dividend free of income tax, including UK dividend withholding tax.

Under Alternative 2, given that your capital gain on these B shares is going to be well below the €1,270 annual capital gain threshold that you are allowed to receive before becoming liable to capital gains tax, you will equally have no liability. The choice is yours.

Eircom loss and Vodafone gain

You stated that the payment will be treated as a capital gain. What is the position if a person's capital gain is less than the €1,270 threshold? Does the capital loss suffered by shareholders when their shares in Eircom were compulsorily acquired have any relevance or implications in the tax treatment of the capital gain?

Mr G.McD., e-mail

If a person's capital gain is below the €1,270 annual capital gains threshold - including any other asset disposals this year - no capital gains tax is due.

For those who still retain a loss on their Eircom investment, that would be set against any gain on the Vodafone redistribution deal before assessing whether the lump sum is liable to capital gains tax.

Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 10-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or by e-mail to dcoyle@irish-times.ie. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice. Due to the volume of mail, there may be a delay in answering questions. All suitable queries will be answered through the columns of the newspaper. No personal correspondence will be entered into.