 Does this seem right
I've got a some questions for all those financial types and rich people out there...
I'm not rich, but I do work hard, and have been rewarded by building up a fair few stock options in my company over the years. A couple of weeks ago I decided to exercise a block of these options 'cos Mrs Jools has been off work for a year now through ill health and times is 'ard. First time I've ever exercised any and so I'm new to it all, however, the sums just don't seem to add up.
To make it simple I've rounded the numbers, but very roughly the situation goes something like this. The options are for a US based company, so I opened an account with the US based stock broker who deals with this on employees behalf.
I had a block of 300 options that were granted to me at $18 each. I exercised them at a market price of $38, as I say the numbers are rounded but almost exactly $20 'profit' per share = $6000. Brokers charges for the sale were $35.
The broker then converts that dollar sum into sterling, by arrangment with the UK tax authorities they deduct 40% at source and wire me the proceeds (why the wired proceeds then take 10 days to be credited to my account is another story). No tax is liable in the US because I've signed and submitted my W8-BEN form to state that I'm not a US citizen.
Anyway. By my sums I should have been getting $6000 x exchange rate = £3200-ish - 40% tax (approx 1200) = net sum of approx £2000.
A transfer arrived in my bank today for approx £1500. Where has the other £500 gone ???
OK, I know that these sums are only rough calculations and I know that I'm not going to get the listed exchange rate when the broker or bank does the dollar/pound conversion, but even so it shouldn't eat up £500 should it.
My bank have confirmed that nobody this end takes a slice, they just credit my account with the funds that were wired. I'm naturally going to phone the broker, but since I'm green to all this are there any obvious questions I should ask (apart from where's my effin cash)? |