Capital gains tax on property

Just one.

Not really. There is no CGT on transfers to your wife though.

Just one or two. Two if you transfer half the house to your wife and then sell it jointly.

Has the house never been your home? If not, too bad. If so, there's a lot more CGT relief available, so much so that it could be worth thinking about actually moving into it before you sell.

Yes, but whatever you give to anyone *except your wife* counts, for CGT purposes, as a disposal at market value and will get taxed as if you had sold it at that value. So there would be no point. The wife, though, is special because, in an old fashioned sort of way, she counts as part of you, so the transfer is tax free, and when you then sell, each of you gets one allowance. She also gets to keep half the sale proceeds, of course, so be careful she doesn't stuff the loot into her bag and run off with the postman.

Thanks. Very helpful. I had it all wrong. That's not good news though!

Tony

A transfer to a spouse prior to disposal can gain an extra CGT exemption plus the 10% and 20% tax bands, if applicable.

Strikes me that a club of landlords could benefit by regularly selling properties between themselves, thereby realising their CG tax allowance each year.

I've no plans to sell the rented house at the moment, but realise theres a lot of learning & planning ahead I need to do! Tony

In principle yes. But they would need to weigh the benefit against the overhead costs involved. Not only will there be land registry fees an legal fees (increased if mortgages are involved), but also Stamp Duty would need to be paid on each sale on the full value, not just on the gain.

There must be thousands of small buy to let landlords who have, like us, plunged in without a clue about the best way to manage tax. Still better than not to have plunged in at all.

Sorry, I asked the above question twice!

Is there a book you'd recommend?

Tony Its 4 in the morning

In message of Sun, 15 Aug 2004, TonyJeffs writes

TCGA 1992 plus all subsequent FAs

Thanks I got the first bit, but what doess FA stand for ? Amendment ? ..........................

Could I give the 'let' house to my children in shares of £8000 per year? ..........................

I'm very grateful for all the advice. I'm endebted to you all. Maybe one day I'll be able to answer someone's questions!

Tony

In message , TonyJeffs writes

Finance Act.

Yes, but why £8k? You should give it to them total shares that equate to a 'capital gain' of the current CGT gain limit (taking into account, indexation, taper and threshold etc.)

Many thanks to all. I'll give half to my wife, and then look at giving tax-appropriate shares to my kids. I'll also think about similar implications for inheritance tax.

Tony

Many thanks to all. I'll give half to my wife, and then look at giving tax-appropriate shares to my kids. I'll also think about similar implications for inheritance tax.

Tony

Many thanks to all. I'll give half to my wife, and then look at giving tax-appropriate shares to my kids. I'll also think about similar implications for inheritance tax.

Tony

Many thanks to all. I'll give half to my wife, and then look at giving tax-appropriate shares to my kids. I'll also think about similar implications for inheritance tax.

Tony

Many thanks to all. I'll give half to my wife, and then look at giving tax-appropriate shares to my kids. I'll also think about similar implications for inheritance tax.

Tony

OK, OK, OK. There's no need to thank us quite so profusely. Once is enough.

:-)