Blueboy330

Hi,

This is my first post so please ignore any mistakes I make.

I have been in Australia for 2.5 years and became a permanent resident (along with my English partner) in May of last year.

We have decide that we do not want to return to the UK and have therefore been considering selling the flat that we own in London to help give us a boost out here with buying a property etc.

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has sold a property/asset back in the UK regarding tax issues both UK and Australian - particularly regarding Capital Gains, when transfering funds from the UK to Australia.

It would also be good to hear from anyone who has successfully sold a property in the UK whilst being resident in Australia. How easy was it to sell when your so far away? is a private quick sale the best route? Is internet selling an option? How much does it cost? Are there any pitfalls to be aware of?

Any advise would be welcome

Cheers

ABCDiamond

If you have a reliable solicitor in the UK, you can give them Power of Attorney, so they can sign everything for you, and you can then sell the property easily without needing to go back.

A private sale "may" be difficult for you to do without returning, unless you already know someone who is interested.

Blueboy330

Thanks for your advise. We probably would use the solicitor we had when buying the property.

We are looking into Estate Agents as well to see those who have a no sale no fee policy.

Cheers

B

JAJ

Alan Collett will be able to add more detail on this, but in general, Australian CGT liability is not affected by whether you physically repatriate the funds or not. There may be a UK CGT issue as well - however if the house was your main residence then there may be relief in both the UK and Australia. Plus double tax relief if there's a charge to tax in two countries on the same income.

Tax is complex and not really within the scope of a free forum - you would be advised to get some good professional advice.

Jeremy

ABCDiamond

Don't they all have a No Sale/ No fee Policy ?
We used one that charged 1.25%, which seems positively nothing when compared to the charges here (around 3.3% ave)

Blueboy330

Thanks for the heads-up Jeremy. Is Alan a regular on this forum? or do I find him elsewhere?

Cheers

Alan Collett

I'm here (though technically on holiday)!

There are some free tax factsheets here:
http://www.collettandco.com/factsheet.cfm

If you request at least one of them my PA will send the factsheet/s to you plus a Tax Planning Questionnaire which I can use to prepare a fee proposal for reporting to you on the tax issues that are relevant to your situation and how tax might be mitigated.

Hope this helps and is of interest.

Blueboy330

Alan, sorry to break up your holiday, but thanks very much for your reply and link. I think we will definately be in touch with you soon. The market back home for house selling (as it is here) is cooling at present so I don't think we will do it immediately, but it would be good to know what the tax implications would be.

Cheers

Blake

Kiwipaul

One major factor is have you bought in Oz yet, if not you can claim you UK house is still your primary place of residence(PPOR) for tax purposes (providing you have actually live in the property) and you can do this for 6 years which eliminates any Oz CGT.

If you rented for 12 months and then bought you can claim that your house in UK was your PPOR for that 12 months and then you are only liable for CGT in Oz from that date untill you sell it.

Cannot help with UK tax liability.