scrubbedexpat141

Yeah, of course (I thought you were getting at the fact the owner wasn't having to pay it.)

busybee2

if the property is unoccupied then you can get a discount.... 50% for 6 months then 10% each month thereafter but thats all i believe (council tax that is)

busybee2

its not all very rich russians that will be affected by this, "normal" expats too!

weasel decentral

I don't think there should be capital gains tax, if the government were about to rebate money if you made a loss when you sold property then perhaps it could be acceptable.
Or to limit CGT to sales made within 3 or 4 years of buying, basically just taxing speculators.

busybee2

its bad enough coughing up the stamp duty!!

OriginalSunshine

people in the UK pay CGT, why shouldn't non-residents?

housing is a giant ponzi scheme with the losers being those that live & work in the UK, whilst the "profits" (made by some younger sucker paying a higher price for the house you lived in) often leave the UK.

scrubbedexpat141

Interesting, didn't know that.

Cool.

Why would they? We all know governments don't work like that....

Don't people get taxed on savings, investments and other incomes? Why should profit from owning a home for a period of time be any different?

weasel decentral

Because I was taxed on the money that I used to buy it in the first place. I don't mind a tax on income from having tenants but capital gains is unfair, (also unfair on savings).

There is a ten year limit in some countries in Europe, if you own it for longer than that then there isn't CGT payable on the profit.

flares

I had this on my pad in France but liability % decreased from year 6 to 15. I sold at year 8, made 135% gain in that time and had to cough up close to 5k euro.

This on top of paying annual taxe d'habitation and taxe fonciers for the local services.

scrubbedexpat141

So if you bought a house now, with tax-free earnings, you would mind less?

I think a time allowance / limit would be fairer too.

weasel decentral

I do not deem my earnings to be tax free, I have paid the applicable rate wherever I am. If it's zero then so be it but I am compliant with that country's income tax law.
My point is that I have paid my taxes and bought a house, which is not generating an income (I don't have a problem paying tax on an income derived from renting the house, just like an investment) but I do have a problem paying tax on capital appreciation of a house.
I cannot depreciate my house's value like a commercial property against tax, I cannot offset losses should the price fall against tax, I cannot deduct maintenance costs but should I gain money (due to market forces) I get taxed.

weasel decentral

It's fairer system I think, and cools speculators a little. Having said that I once bought a place from a guy and paid him the same value as he paid on the books, and the rest in cash with a discount to save him the CGT.
I wouldn't recommend this though as I faced a good grilling afterwards from various tax officials, as did he to be fair. They obviously smelled a rather large rat

scrubbedexpat141

You've not done anything to earn that increase, so in essence, it's something for nothing. Of course you can offset losses, if you own two homes, one drops but 50k and one rises by 60k you will pay no CGT (as far as the gov website seems to read).

I see exactly what you're saying, I just don't see why it's deemed so unreasonable. Governments will tax everything, they tax savings, they tax stocks, they tax biscuits. I think it's a shitter, but not a wholly unfair action.

Meow

That's if both are sold in the same tax year, but the property market rarely works like that.

Scamp. assuming you think that it's fair to pay CGT (above annual allowance) on any gain, do you think the exemption for main residences for UK residences should be scrapped?

weasel - you can offset a certain amount of maintenance costs against UK rental income.

weasel decentral

I have assumed the risk and that is certainly not free in any commercial sense.