i’m from the UK and fortunately pay 0% tax on my profits :D… but there’s every chance the FSA can change their mind and start taxing so i wanted to find out how much people from other countries get charged.
So far I do not show my trading profits to my country 
the FSA regulate forex, so they know what’s going on… spread betting is gambling but in forex, depending on strategy, risk and discipline, the odd’s are so much in the favour of the trader, it makes you wonder if its even gambling. maybe too many people were making losses… anywho its better for us. i still want to know how other countries charge.
Why is forex trading in the UK tax free? Are you sure about this?
In Australia, if you’re trading as a “hobby” then profit is tax free. But there’s no clear line separating “hobby” from “making a living”, which is taxable. I guess if you’re a losing trader, then the tax office will classify your trading as a “hobby” and prevent you from claiming losses hehe.
if you have a strategy that is making you profit, then your strategy has an edge, meaning in the long term you’ll be making more and more money ie the odds our in your favour …whereas in gambling, the odds are tipped slightly against the gambler so in the long term, the gambler losses money.
in the UK, forex itself if classed as spread betting, which is gambling, and gambling gains are tax-free… i can only imagine the fact the 95% of forex traders lose money can back up their case of why its considered a ‘gamble’…
In germany taxes for trading are 25%…
A french based trader once told me in France it´s even 50%:mad:…
I didn’t pay any taxes from foreign broker. As government can’t detect my earning. 
I’m from the UK, and you have this confused.
Spread Betting and trading Forex on a Margined account with the use of Leverage are two different accounts and as a result are regulated by two different authorities.
- Spread Betting is regulated by the Gambling Authority - and thus the profits are (to a degree) treated as tax free
- Forex on a leveraged account is regulated by the FSA - Profits are NOT tax free in the UK.
On both of the above accounts, any income from trading is simply added to your total income, and taxed accordingly. Neither are tax free! The catch is that the brokers state it’s tax free, when what they really mean is that any profits up to and including your personal allowance are tax free. Any income from trading, or in fact gambling which exceeds this personal tax free allowance is taxable. Professional gamblers are taxed on there income, the HMRC tax office have an option on their tax forms which classifies you as a “professional speculator” - thus you WILL be taxed should you declare your earnings correctly.
This type of thread occurs here way to often and all the time people assume the UK is tax free spread betting/forex, this is simply not true. The source of the above information is directly from HM Revenue and Customs as I looked into this a few years back (when at the time I was also confused about the whole issue).
So in short, in the UK spread betting and Forex trading on leverage is tax free, but only up to your personal allowance. Income from trading/spread betting exceeding your personal allowance will be taxed in the usual way via income tax.
Your earnings must be to small then to raise alarms with the tax office 
Think about what happens when you withdraw all your profits from your broker, your broker that has to file his accounts. When he files his annual accounts the tax office will see who they have paid money to, and this will then be cross checked with tax received by these clients, hence you!
This is called Tax Auditing, a standard procedure carried out by the tax man. So be careful
It is always a good practice to your taxes on the Income generated from Forex trading as it helps you stay Safe and the funds you earn are legitimate
Well, I guess it varies - depending on your gov’s tax policy, it varies from one country to the other. And yes, you may want to check up on this and find out about the ceiling, % tax levied, etc.
i didn’t know that !! that sucks… how do i know what my personal tax free allowance is ?? getting taxed via income tax in the UK isn’t cool. the potential of profit through trading can easily hit the 50% tax bracket :56: . btw FSA does keep an eye on Forex spread betting because the broker asked for ID (to send to FSA) before i could open a live account.
Allowance is £8,105 for 2012-2013 and it will go up to £10,000 soon.
And yes you will have to pay taxes regardless, as long as you are doing it to make money the tax man would want some of it. I personally wont risk it, these days its much easier for them to track you and if you are making so much you better start paying because there is no way around it once they found out.
i just did some research and found that as long as you can prove that forex (spread betting) is NOT your main source of income, you don’t get taxed for it. i can be working in mcdonalds while earning huge sums trading and it won’t get taxed because it would be considered side income (the mcdonalds being my main source of income to live on). from what i see, if you don’t set up a spread betting account rather have a normal forex account, you get the £8105 tax-free allowance (as you do with any normal income job) however if you have the spread betting account, you don’t pay any tax as long as you have another source of sufficient income that is being taxed instead.so basically, they tax you on what you’re using to survive. thats the only logical reason i can think of that explains why brokers offer a normal forex account, aswell as a spread betting forex account to UK residents.
Im not too sure if working in mcdonald to cover up the millions you are making in trading is going to work.
Because if you are making more in trading than what you earn in mcdonalds then technically trading become your main source of income so you will get taxed on that.
On the other hand, you can write off the losses, but again, this depends on your country, in this case, UK’s tax policy. The last time I checked, they had some sort of a ceiling, for losses to be declared so you may not have to pay tax on all the investment, just on the profits.
OH ,so mach
Kinda doubtful, but it would be awesome if that were the case. We can dream.
Here in Gibraltar, earnings from trading forex would be classed as Capitol Gains Tax, of which the tax rate here is 0%
Paying tax is easier than making millions in forex. I wish Im in that position right now. :18: