Private Lives – Capital Gains Tax update

From 6 April 2020, a new regime was introduced by HMRC for the reporting and collection of Capital Gains Tax in relation to residential property disposals.

In the past, when you realised a taxable gain on the disposal of a property, then you would have had until 31 January following the end of the tax year in which that gain was realised in order to report and pay the tax. In practice, this allowed many months to deal with these matters.

Under the new rules, the reporting and payment deadline is 30 days following completion of a property sale or other transfer. This means that people need to be prepared with both the information and the funds to settle any tax liability at a much earlier stage.

There are some transactions which will not need to be reported, for example a straightforward sale of a property which you always lived in as your main residence. However, disposals of buy to lets, or properties which used to be your main residence but are no longer a main residence at the point of sale, are more likely to require reporting.

We are working closely with our property teams to ensure that we provide tax support and reassurance to clients on what the new regime will mean for them. If you are concerned about your CGT position on a sale, please speak to your property contact who will be able to put you in touch with the appropriate member of the tax team to discuss your circumstances. We suggest doing this at the earliest possible stage in the transaction, to ensure that you are well placed to meet the 30 day deadline.

This article is from the spring 2020 issue of Private Lives, our newsletter covering the key legal and tax issues that individuals face. To download the latest issue, please visit the newsletter section of our website. 

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