RSUs, GSUs and ESPP shares held with Morgan Stanley at Work are already taxed as pay when they are released or bought. Capital gains tax only applies to the change in value after that. FiscalFox reads three Morgan Stanley report layouts, ESPP Purchase History, ESPP Sales and the Releases Report, locally in your browser, and imports each recognised file completely or not at all.
How UK tax treats RSU releases and ESPP purchases
RSUs and GSUs. When units are released you acquire the shares at their market value on the release date. Income tax and National Insurance on that value are charged through PAYE, so the same market value is your capital gains tax base cost.
ESPP (US section 423 plans). The discount is taxed as employment income, so the base cost is the market value on the purchase date, not the discounted price you paid. HMRC's ERSM180030 (CGT interface) explains that shares acquired through employment usually have a capital gains tax cost made up of their market value when acquired, plus certain amounts already charged as employment income.
Shares sold to cover tax on the release day are matched with that day's release under the same-day rule, so the gain is usually close to nil less fees, but the proceeds still count. Releases or purchases within 30 days after a sale are matched under the 30-day rule, and the rest go into the Section 104 pool. Our RSU and ESPP tax guide explains each step with a worked example.
Calculating is free. The report pack for a tax year costs £39.99, paid once, the same as for any other broker. RSU vests and ESPP purchases are included at no extra cost.
How to export the supported reports
Sign in to Morgan Stanley at Work. Morgan Stanley now describes StockPlan Connect as part of Morgan Stanley at Work, but the names available inside an account can vary by employer and plan.
- Open your stock plan account: Sign in to Morgan Stanley at Work (formerly StockPlan Connect) and open the taxable employee share plan you want to calculate.
- Download acquisitions: For ESPP shares, export Purchase History as the original XLS or XLSX workbook. Keep the Fund line and the original headings.
- Download disposals: For ESPP sales, export ESPP Sales as CSV. Upload it together with Purchase History so earlier acquisition costs are available.
- Download stock-unit releases: For supported stock units, export the Releases Report as CSV. The current release recipe recognises completed GSU Class C rows and asks you to confirm the inferred Alphabet Class C identity.
- Add sell-to-cover sales: If shares were sold to cover tax at release, those sales are not in the Releases Report. Add them from your Morgan Stanley trade confirmations, because their proceeds belong on your return.
Upload the complete holding history
A sales-only or tax-year-only report can omit shares still carried in a Section 104 pool. Include Purchase History from the earliest relevant acquisition and every later disposal or release. Sell-to-cover sales are not in the Releases Report, so add them from your trade confirmations.
Exactly what the importer reads
| Report | Imported result | Guardrail |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase History XLS/XLSX | ESPP acquisition at purchase-date FMV; discounted purchase price retained in the audit description | Requires the original Fund: SYMBOL metadata |
| ESPP Sales CSV | Gross disposal from quantity × sale price; gross-to-net difference recorded as disposal fees | Does not create missing purchase rows from the sales report |
| Releases Report CSV | Net shares delivered as an acquisition at the vest-date price | Only completed supported plan labels; inferred identity stays under review; sell-to-cover sales must be added |
Employee-share basis and the ESPP discount
The supported Purchase History recipe uses purchase-date fair market value rather than the discounted employee purchase price. HMRC's guidance says that unrestricted employment-related shares acquired for less than market value are generally treated as acquired at market value for CGT, and amounts already charged to employment income can be added when preventing double taxation. The exact result still depends on your plan and payroll treatment, so retain the Morgan Stanley report, payslips, and any employer tax statement. See HMRC's employee share scheme helpsheet and its double-taxation guidance.
Morgan Stanley's “Ordinary Income”, “Capital Gain”, and “Qualifying Disposition” fields describe US stock-plan treatment. FiscalFox preserves them as source evidence but does not substitute them for the UK share-matching calculation.
How USD amounts become sterling
The Morgan Stanley reports we validated state that values are in US dollars unless specified. Where a report includes its own GBP value or a GBP-per-USD rate, FiscalFox uses it. Otherwise it converts each acquisition at a dated reference rate for the release or purchase date, and each sale at the rate for the sale date, and shows the rate it used. It never relabels a dollar amount as pounds.
Converting each side separately, rather than converting a dollar gain, is the approach in HMRC's CG78310, which cites Bentley v Pike.
Why Morgan Stanley imports fail closed
If a recognized report contains an invalid date, quantity, market value, unreconciled sale, unsupported release status, or unknown release-plan identity, no rows from that file are saved. This prevents a partial employee-share history from producing a plausible but incomplete pool. Re-export the original report, and contact support if its unchanged layout is still rejected.
Calculate and review the result
- Open the FiscalFox calculator with Morgan Stanley selected.
- Upload the acquisition and disposal reports needed to cover the complete holding history, plus any sell-to-cover sales.
- Review any inferred-security or sell-to-cover warning.
- Check the same-day, 30-day, and Section 104 workings before using the output for Self Assessment.
Also hold shares from a Charles Schwab plan? Upload those files under Charles Schwab in the same calculation: see the Charles Schwab RSU and ESPP tax guide. For shares at Fidelity Stock Plan Services, see the Fidelity Stock Plan RSU and ESPP tax guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is an RSU or GSU release taxed again when I sell the shares?
No. Income tax and National Insurance are charged through PAYE on the market value at release, and that market value becomes your capital gains tax base cost. Only the change in value after the release date is a capital gain or loss.
Which Morgan Stanley stock-plan reports does FiscalFox support?
FiscalFox has deterministic import recipes for ESPP Purchase History XLS/XLSX, ESPP Sales CSV, and completed rows in the Releases Report CSV. It rejects renamed or materially different layouts instead of guessing.
Should I upload both Morgan Stanley Purchase History and ESPP Sales?
Yes. ESPP Sales contains disposal rows, but it does not reconstruct all earlier acquisitions. Upload Purchase History as well, including older purchases that may remain in the Section 104 pool.
How does FiscalFox treat the ESPP discount?
For a US section 423 plan the discount is taxed as employment income, so the base cost is the purchase-date fair market value. FiscalFox records that value as the acquisition cost and keeps the employee purchase price as audit evidence. Confirm the treatment against your plan and payroll records.
How are USD amounts converted to pounds?
Where the report has its own GBP amount or GBP-per-USD rate, FiscalFox uses it. Otherwise each acquisition is converted at a dated reference rate for its own date, and each sale at the rate for the sale date. The gain is never worked out in dollars and converted.
How much does a Morgan Stanley RSU or ESPP report cost?
Calculating is free. The report pack for a tax year costs £39.99, paid once, the same as for any other broker. RSU vests and ESPP purchases are included at no extra cost.
Official UK tax references
This guide is checked against published GOV.UK and HMRC material. FiscalFox is a calculation tool, not personal tax advice; review unusual transactions with a qualified adviser.