carvoeiro

sorry another unknowable Brexit question

At the moment as an EU person i can sell my main residence in the EU and reinvest the full proceeds anywhere in the EU - including the UK without incuring any capital gains tax liability if a profit has been made

the consensus is that this is unlikely to continue post Brexit
even if as we expect we eventually are given the right to remain again the consensus is that we will probably be treated on a par with all other non EU immigrants

Can any of the non EU people here kindly inform me what the main residence sale\ reinvesment - capital gains tax situation is as currently applies to them

RichardHenshall

The reinvestment concession to which you refer is available to all (tax-) residents in Portugal for the proceeds of their own permanent residence. AFAIK, your nationality is irrelevant. The option to reinvest in the UK may be lost in the future if the UK also leaves the EEA but it would only have been available if you were intending to move to the UK anyway. If you're staying in Portugal there should be no change.

If your current residence in Portugal has a huge pregnant capital gain and you intend to relocate to the UK post-Brexit, could you sell the property now and reinvest the proceeds in another Portuguese property now? When the second property is sold there is likely to be a much smaller gain, so the (unavoidable) tax bill will be less painful.

carvoeiro

Hi Richard
interesting reply
We really don-t want to go back to the UK - sadly after reading many of the Brexit thugs messages on msn and in the British press hearing the lies from the UK politicians who spent their whole life supporting the EU and are now against it in the blink of an eye and speaking to family and friends still living there we dont think its the place for us
we just see a terrible culture of spite and hatred taking control of our green and once pleasant land
i dont think the country we left behind many years ago still exists - fracking windmills overpopulation greed immigration issues the slow death of the NHS corrupt politicians - to name but a few obvious problems
But we do have to consider our options as we grow older
our preference at the moment is to become dual nationals and remain in Portugal so the tax resident - we are- reinvestment option would be a real boon if we decide to move in the future
many thanks for the information

Dal Dy Dir

By no means a Brexit supporter but if you think all the things you describe above are a result of Brexit then you must have missed the last few decades in the UK.

carvoeiro

i certainly missed more than 1 decade almost two including work
im not really sure what to make of your remark
it seems almost agreeing but wanting to look for an arguement
of course i dont solely blame brexit for the curious and disturbing attitude of some of the brits - but it does seem to have bought a lot of spite and hatred out into the open

Regardless my preference is not to live like that but to preferably remain in portugal so clarity on what that means to UK expat life in general and specifically to the largest investment most of us will ever make - our home and associated taxes- as per Richards answer is very appreciated

my preference is not to make this another brexit thread

Knoxy_UK

OMG. Re-read what you've written and consider if your statement is any better than the "brexit thug" you write about.

Reading press cuttings to gain a view is dangerous, as the press write stuff that sells or creates ad revenue.

Yes the UK population is higher than its ever been, putting pressure on the NHS and other services. But it's not in meltdown.

One could scoff and suggest that if people stopped trying to avoid paying tax there'd be more money for government services.

But let's stick to facts and not personal opinions or crusades.

Your tax question is more about how Portugal tax, as the UK only charges capital gains on 2nd properties, not on 'your home'

Paul

carvoeiro

thanks for your totally unsupported and pointless response - i politely asked for it not to become a brexit thread
in case you didnt notice its the portugal web page and my question is clearly about expats in portugal and has already been answered as such
kindly keep your chip on our shoulder firmly where it belongs

Knoxy_UK

I'm sure if you re-read my comment, it has no "chip on my shoulder". I am proud to hold a British Passport, and simply suggested bitching and whining about the UK based on MSN was not prudent, nor did it help focus on your real question.

Asking about tax avoidance is a perfectly legitimate question on this forum, although seeking proper professional advice on such a large matter is wise.

Nearly all replies are IMO's, as there is no qualification or professional requirement when making replies.

Paul

carvoeiro

its not tax avoidance - at least you now have another chip to balance the other shoulder
its attempting to understand the possibilities in a post brexit world
through 6 years of hard work significant investment building improvement projects legalisation projects and an awful lot of stress in a foreign country we find that there would be a capital gain if we choose to sell our main residence
pre brexit i knew eactly what the rules were - now i am in limbo
at this moment i know two facts
i can stay in portugal if i have dual or portuguese nationality
i checked Richards kind reply - if im a tax resident in portugal i can reinvest the proceeds of the sale of my main home without incuring capital gains tax - not avoidance just understanding the rules

From you and brexit so far i know absolutely nothing

imagine the uk if you couldnt make a capital gain from your main residence
fortunately this is enshrined in eu law - at least the part where you can reinvest - and is common across most of the civilised world - the uk is one of the few places where you can simply keep the profit
perhaps it will be interesting to see what the uk does to this - tax avoidance - post brexit
i suspect without the increase in house prices throughout the uks time of membership of the eu that there would be very few expats

Knoxy_UK

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_avoidance I have enclosed a link for you to read and learn what Tax Avoidance is Carvoeiro, you seem to be limited in your personal knowledge between evasion and avoidance. I trust it helps.

Paul

Pulaski

You are trying to "avoid" tax, and there is nothing wrong with that, researching the rules and then organizing your life to minimize your tax bill. That is 100% legitimate.

It is tax evasion that is illegal. Evasion is lying about your status and/or not declaring income and gains which are taxable. Creating transactions which have no other purpose than reduce or eliminated taxes are often ruled as being evasion, not avoidance. Such transactions often include such things as trusts in off-shore tax havens.

carvoeiro

Knoxy_UK you seem to share all of the traits of the majority of the brexit voters
stupid angry uneducated ignorant but eternally willing to offer your unsolicited opinion
as the kind contributor above pointed out above there is a world of difference between avoidance and evasion - i think you confuse the two - spite and hatred seems to be your only purpose
kindly stop posting to this thread sadly you are destroying what i hoped would be a source of useful information
pre Brexit - a world of facts and figures
post brexit - a world of mindless rhetoric

as Theresa may recently said to show she has a fundamental understanding of mathematics

the 43 million losers - yes she really did say that - must work hard to make Brexit a success for the 17 million majority who overwhelmingly voted for it
it would be funny if it wasnt real

carvoeiro

actually im not trying to avoid or evade tax - only wanting to understand the situation - i have no intention to sell my home at this moment and wouldnt have asked this question were it not for brexit

what really makes me angry about brexit is the fact that brexit people seem to think they can say anything they want - with virtually no facts to support it but the moment anyone says anything else even mentioning the word they are entitled to be as abusive as they like - with no replies permitted

Knoxy_UK

Oh dear Carveoiro,

1. I never said you were trying to "evoid" or evade tax. I clearing stated avoid tax. Which means to plan to legitimately reduce ones tax liability.
2. I simply suggested running down the UK was not necessary, and not productive to your thread.
3. I find it wonderful that your stated views about brexiteers are that they are self opinionated. I haven't once mentioned brexit being a plus or a minus. Nor have I grouped people together by their view on Brexit and made disparaging remarks about them.
4. If you stoped bitching and name calling I wouldn't need to reply.


Paul

carvoeiro

pointless Knoxy_UK

i take your point pulaski but in fact im not even trying to avoid tax -
tax has never been due in this situation in portugal - selling of a main residence and reinvesting in another property

what i was trying to establish was that tax would not become due because of the brexit changes to uk people living in the eu or specifically portugal
i tried to do this by asking if anyone knew what rules applied to non eu expats on the presumption that this is a probable situation for ourselves post brexit
if the rules change for us - if it is possible to avoid this tax legally i would certainly try to achieve this

many thanks to richard for the answer - i confirmed this on many online sources- so im happy to accept this as fact
tax residents in Portugal regardless of where they originate from can reinvest the proceeds of the sale of their main residence - if its in Portugal- and they purchase a property of equal or greater value without incuring capital gains tax - if any would otherwise be due - ie on a profit
sadly the rest of this thread detireorated - like my spelling
please consider it closed and i hope the info is useful to people owning property here