SeanK

Hi

After having waited months to sell the house... even booked the flights w/o the sale - we now have a cash buyer who is to complete the deal within months.
Now the big question is - Our house is worth around 200K - all of which we plan to stick in the Bank [uk] and access from OZ - when we find the right house - withdraw the lot and bobs your relative...

Now - selling a UK hs,do we fall foul of the CGtax? - or can we ship the lot to OZ, ?
This is a minefield - if you've done it please help....
Sean

sparks124

there shouldn't be a problem with CG tax but be aware that there is a maximum time that you will be able to bring the money over without having to pay some sort of tax in OZ, i think it's 6 months from time of entry. so you'll have to have the money in OZ by then or pay tax there.

Ozzidoc

What makes u think that u would have to pay capital gains? Is it your family home? Have you lived in it the entire time that you owned it? Then u wont have to pay CGT. Or, have u rented it out some of the time? if so, then u MAY be liable for SOME of the proportional increase, but unlikely....there are loads of bitsnspieces which reduce your liability.

U can ship the lot to oz.

Your only real issue per se is if u r earning interest on your money here in the uk, and living in oz, then u will need to declare it in oz.

joho

You know I always thought this was the case until yesterday, I spoke to someone at the Australian Tax office and mentioned the 6 month rule, he said never heard of that who told you that information. Mind you he did say I will go away and check, so maybe he is new or doesnt know everything.

OP why not move the money into a high interest account in OZ and then there are deffinately no tax implications. I use Commonwealth on line saver which gives us 5.40% on amounts over $5k and I am sure there are better rates too if you shop around also if the exchange rate stays up I would do it too.

Jo

SeanK

Its the family home - not rented - Thanks for the advice much appreciated
Sean

joho

Yep sorry, should have thought of that first, family homes are exempt from taxation if they are your main residence and not rented out.

Jo

JAJ

There is no such thing as capital transfer tax, why so many people believe that there is a "toll" on capital transferred to Australia is a mystery - there isn't!!

Transferring funds with a change of currency might cause a CGT gain or loss, that's another issue.

There is a special "6 month rule" with regard to certain pension schemes, that must be the source of all the confusion.

Alan Collett

The disposal of a property that has been your main residence throughout the period of your ownership is exempt from the charge to capital gains tax.

One or more of the free tax factsheets here may be of interest:
http://www.collettandco.com

Best regards.

sparks124

thanks for clearing that up JAJ, as you say must be one of those urban myths that seem to start from no where and some how become fact
to the OP you would almost certainly be better off transferring the proceeds over to OZ as the interest rates that you will get are almost guaranteed to be better than over here. all the best.