Dominic Coyle Q&A: Too late now to avail of Verizon sale deadline

I confused the Verizon deadlines. Any chance they’re going to go again or do I just take my beating and trade the disposal at normal rates before Tuesday.

Mr SM, email

You’re far from alone but there won’t be any second chances on this. Verizon has allowed around four months for people to get their affairs sorted, including that traditional new year window when so many people do a spring clean on their financial affairs and investments.

When this whole process started, there were just over 145,000 Irish shareholders with fewer than 10 Verizon shares – a maximum holding of about $500. Now that it has concluded, there are still over 86,000 in the same position, including almost 32,000 who hold just one share.

In total, just over 40 per cent of small shareholders acted to sell their shares before the special offer closed. As I say, you’re not alone. What’s interesting is that a notably higher proportion of the nearly 54,000 larger Irish shareholders in the company – those with more than 10 shares – took advantage of the special arrangements to sell out of the company.

So what now?

The shares have now been transferred from the UK to the US where they are "live" on the US-based share register since yesterday. Irish shareholders will get a "closing statement" from Computershare in the UK but those will not arrive until the week beginning March 14th.

Along with the closing statement, the mailing will include a cheque for any dividends that were not claimed because Computershare didn’t have appropriate bank account information or a cheque for money outstanding under the dividend reinvestment programme if either is relevant to individual shareholders.

You will also be introduced to the wonders of the US Inland Revenue Service tax system with a 1042 tax form which is a withholding tax return for non-US nationals in relation to US income – yes, that is one of the pleasures awaiting those 86,000 small Irish investors in Verizon.

You will be able to trade the shares via the US, obviously, albeit at a somewhat higher cost than would have prevailed under the special offer.

However, you are going to need your new SRN (shareholder reference number). This will be on the opening statement that will be sent to all Irish (and other) shareholders by post over the next few days. Clearly, coming from the US, this could take a week or more to arrive.

Once you have the new SRN, you will be able to trade either by phone, over the web or by written instructions to the US.

If you’re looking for more, specific information about your holding or trading in it, you can call the US on +1-866-7256576 or contact them by email at verizon@computershare.co.uk.

When do I get my Vodafone cash? I had 274 shares in Vodafone and I sent back the form to sell. Do you have any idea when I will get paid for them?

Mr F O’R, email

I don’t know precisely but Computershare and Vodafone said that, from February 23rd to May 24th, they would bundle any shares received and sell them on the Tuesday or Thursday after receipt.

I am assuming that, as with any other dealings, payment will be made fairly promptly after the settlement date. So, if your shares were sold on the 23rd of last month, you should probably expect to receive a cheque in payment for those shares sometime over the next few days.

Finally, one important point to bear in mind. Even though you are selling out of the shares, you are still losing money on the deal. There’s nothing obviously that you can do about that but you are entitled to offset that loss against any capital gains that arise this year or in the future before you incur any capital gains tax bill.

So, if you were to sell another asset this year, you first set this loss against any profit there before determining if you owe capital gains tax. And if you have no profits arising this year to offset his loss against, you carry the loss forward until you have an offsetting profit – and no, there is no time limit on how long you can carry the loss forward.

Missing Verizon share certificates I am looking for help on Verizon shares. I am writing on behalf of a senior citizen. He purchased the shares way back and has mislaid the original registration documents.

While he got the recent documentation from Verizon regarding the selling of shares, he is unable to do anything as he has not got the registration forms with numbers on them.

How does he going about sorting this matter out at this late stage? The phone number of Computershare in Sandyford Industrial Estate does not deal with this issue. Up to now, they suggest that a person contact a number in Bristol and they were not of assistance in relation to dealing with shares where the registration details were not to hand.

Ms M McP, email

Okay, to tidy up your concluding point, there was a special helpline number for queries in relation to Verizon which was on all the documentation sent out to shareholders.

While it was an Irish number, it was patched through automatically to Bristol which is where a dedicated help centre was dealing with such queries.

Anyway, that’s all a bit in the past now as the special offer period ended last week and the shares have been moved to the US.

The good news for your friend is that Verizon, or its share registrar, will be sending out letters at the end of next week or in the following week with a new shareholder reference number for everyone’s holdings.

Once they have this new number, they can sell their shares online, by phone or by written instruction to the US. The letter should also clarify precisely how to go about this.

Assuming the shares came from the Eircom/Vodafone deal, they will have been held electronically so there is no need to worry about paper share certificates in this case.

Send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2, or email dcoyle@irishtimes.com. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice