abbey08

From April 2015, capital gains tax will be imposed on future gains made by non-residents who sell residential property in the UK.

Thank you very much Mr Osborne.

Anyone know how to sell UK property and avoid CGT if you have only been out the country for three years?

Meow

You can't. Currently you only become exempt from CGT if you have been non-resident for tax purposes for five full tax years.

I haven't had a chance to read the full Autumn Statement yet (it's 130 pages ), but a change to CGT was expected by many.

Blazeaway

Isn't only on second homes?

busybee2

nope.

The Dean

There is a bit more detail to come out yet, I suspect - the Chancellor used the term 'future gains', so that could mean benchmarking from 2015 onwards, e.g. if you bought a house in (say) 2010 and sell it in 2018, you will only be taxed on 'gains' made since 2015..........

Maybe.

Meow

Info on how the Autumn Statement will affect expats here:

http://financialuae.me/2013/12/09/uk...it-affect-you/

Regarding the changes to CGT liability, there will be a consultation period in 2014, so it will be come time until we know the final details.

The Dean

One expert who I have come to trust over the years has written this today:

Having looked into this in more detail, my opinion is that the consultation would result in a method of 'grandfathering' such that gains to date of legislation would be exempt.

It is not unusual when new taxation rules come in particularly on CGT matters that there is an element of rebasing involved, the precise terms will only become available during the consultation, but retrospective taxation of gains is highly unlikely.

OriginalSunshine

Yes, it will only be gains from April 2015. So those that made millions in London over the last few years, they are only charged tax on gains from the April 2015 value.
Long enough that all their mates can sell, and realise the profit, eh?
If the government had really wanted to make a difference they should have made the rule as close to immediate as possible, and retrospective. But that would screw too many "important" people.

OleJanx

Yes, well, it gives the politicians time to get their own affairs sorted first.

scrubbedexpat141

I kind of don't have a major issue with this, you're making money from the UK market, so why not pay a little towards it?

Or am I just saying that because I haven't bought a house in the UK yet...

csdf

What does "paying a little towards it" mean? On that same logic, you could say that since someone who wins the lottery is making money from the lottery, why not make them pay a little of their winnings back to Camelot, who kindly helped them win the money in the first place?

Taxes are (supposed to be) used to pay for public infrastructure and services. Seeing as non-resident home owners don't benefit from those infrastructure and services, there is a fair argument to say that they shouldn't have to pay the tax.

scrubbedexpat141

On that same logic you could say that someone is making money from having a job, so surely they should pay a bit back to their employer for keeping them? See, I can come up with irrelevant stuff too...

But you've benefited from all of the infrastructure and services that make the house attractive to buy. The schools, roads, hospitals, parks etc are provided by the gov / council. If they don't contribute a reasonable amount to house value then what does?

Meow

Council tax is still payable by whoever is living in the property and benefiting from local infrastructure.

scrubbedexpat141

Of course, unless it's dormant.

I just think it's not too unreasonable for a country to expect a slice of profit made by someone in their country...don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to have to pay it.

Meow

Dormant? Do you mean empty? Council tax is still payable by the owner in that case except in certain specific circumstances.