As of this year, people who aren't resident in the UK have to pay Capital Gains Tax on any profit on the sale of residential property in the UK. At first your instinct is to think about oligarchs owning London flats, but actually a lot of people will be affected on a much smaller scale - think of all the UK expats on the Costa del Sol who still own their home back here.
Initially the amount of tax itself probably won't be a massive issue, because the charge will only apply to the bit of the gain that arises from 6th April 2015 - that won't be an awful lot, yet. There are a couple of issues that are going to be tricky, though.
First, many (actually, most, probably) of the people affected won't realise they're affected. Maybe the conveyancing solicitor will point it out, but maybe not.
Second, there's some admin that has to be done. A return needs to be made to HMRC within 30 days of the sale. Maybe the conveyancing solicitor will point it out, but maybe not. If the seller (assuming they're an indivual) isn't within the Self Assessment system, then the tax has to be paid withing 30 days too - but it can only be done once that return has been processed and a reference number issued. So actually the return will need to be done very early in the 30 day window.
This is probably going to be a slow burner - it'll catch a lot of people out over time. We'll wait and see how forgiving HMRC will be - and how diligent conveyancers will be in pointing out their clients' obligations.
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