e-shareholders

Sign up to become an e-shareholder

As an e-shareholder engaging with BT is more straightforward. You just need to choose direct dividend payment and sign up for e-communications.

Choose direct dividend payment

Sign up to receive direct dividend payments and you’ll automatically be entered into a free prize draw to win a three night weekend break courtesy of Warner Leisure Hotels or BT Whole Home Wi-Fi. Terms and conditions apply*

Don’t delay – sign-up today – the prize draws close on 31 July 2017.

Step 1

All you need is your Shareholder Reference Number (from your dividend confirmation) and your email address.

Choose e-communications

In ‘Your preferences’ elect to receive shareholder communications by ‘email’ rather than ‘post’

Step 2

Choose direct dividend payment

Once you’ve received your activation code in the post, add your bank account details.

Withdrawal of cheque dividend payments

From September 2018, cheque dividend payment for shares in Easyshare¹ was withdrawn

Important: if you didn't provide bank details by 31 July 2018, your cash dividends will be reinvested in the BT Dividend investment Plan (‘the plan’²) to purchase additional shares in BT. If you subsequently revoke this election and don’t provide up-to-date bank details, your shares will be transferred out of Easyshare, and a share certificate issued to you.

You can contact the Shareholder Helpline if you have any queries.

¹ Easyshare is BT’s corporate sponsored nominee
² Further information on the plan including terms and conditions, applicable fees and how to apply are available at shareview.co.uk/info/drip

Annual dividend confirmation

In 2015/16, we introduced annual dividend confirmations giving you all your BT dividend information from the previous tax year in one statement.

By choosing to receive your dividends direct to your bank or building society account, you’ll automatically receive an annual dividend confirmation.

You should keep your dividend confirmation as you may need it for tax purposes. You may be charged for a duplicate.

Changes to dividend payments

In April 2016 the dividend tax credit was replaced by a tax-free dividend allowance. The dividend allowance doesn’t reduce your total income for tax purposes, but it means that you don’t have to pay tax on the first £2,000 of your dividend income, no matter what non-dividend income you have. The allowance is available for anyone who has dividend income.

The allowance reduced to £2,000 (from £5,000) in April 2018.

What does this mean for you as a shareholder?

Tax on any dividends you receive over £2,000 will be charged at:

7.5% for basic rate taxpayers;
32.5% for higher rate taxpayers; and
38.1% for additional rate taxpayers.

Dividends within your allowance will still count towards your basic or higher rate bands and may therefore affect the rate of tax that you pay on dividends you receive in excess of the £2,000 income.

Dividends received on shares held in an Individual Savings Account (ISA) continue to be tax-free.

Be ScamSmart

Investment scams are designed to look like genuine investments

Spot the warning signs

Have you been:

contacted out of the blue
and told the investment is safe
called repeatedly, or
told the offer is only available for a limited time?

If so, you might have been contacted by fraudsters.

Avoid Investment fraud

1. Reject cold calls
If you’ve received unsolicited contact about an investment opportunity, chances are it's a high risk investment or a scam. You should treat the call with extreme caution. The safest thing to do is to hang up.

2. Check the FCA Warning List
The FCA Warning List is a list of firms and individuals we know are operating without our authorisation.

3. Get impartial advice
Think about getting impartial financial advice before you hand over any money. Seek advice from someon unconnected to the firm that has approached you.

Report a Scam

If you suspect that you have been approached by fraudsters please tell the FCA using the reporting form at www.fca.org.uk/consumers/report-scam-unauthorised-firm You can also call the FCA Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768.

If you have lost money to investment fraud, you should report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or online at www.actionfraud.police.uk

Find out more at www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart

ScamSmart

Contact information

Shareholder helpline

For general enquiries call:

Freefone 0808 100 4141
(+44 121 415 7178*)

Textphone
0800 169 6907
(+44 121 415 7028*)
*Calls from outside the UK

You can find information on how to manage your shareholdings at https://help.shareview.co.uk

If your question is not answered by the information provided, you can send your enquiry via secure mail from these pages.

Equiniti, Aspect House, Spencer Road, Lancing, West Sussex BN99 6DA
(please include a daytime telephone number)

Data protection
We’ve updated our privacy policy to reflect the changes in data protection laws. You can view our new privacy policy.

Shareview services

e-communication terms and conditions