How is Capital Gains Tax paid?

The latter. The vast majority of sales, after all, are of properties which were the owner's home, and on which therefore there is no CGT. CGT is only levied on second homes or investment properties.

Dear knows. They might. Or someone with a grudge could drop a hint.

If you've been renting a property out, you'll have been declaring rental income, won't you, and if that income stops, they may be inclined to check why.

I would assume the latter, there's no way the solicitor could know how much tax is due.

You could say that about anything you're supposed to declare. You might get away with it, but is it worth the risk? House sales are a matter of record so it would be pretty easy for the IR to spot if they tried, and they can dig back into history if they decide to audit you in the future. Also large amounts of money flowing through your bank account may trigger enquiries.

With computerized transaction records especially, "digging" back into history is as easy as entering a few details in some search fields and clicking go - not much effort at all in tracking whatever they want.

Thanks. I'm non-resident in the UK and don't think any CGT would be due anyway. I haven't had any dealings with the IR for many years now and just wanted to know if I could get the proceeds of the sale out of the country without any complications.

I just hope that there are no special rules for non-residents that require solicitors to act differently on a property sale.

Is "many" more than 5? You need to be non-resident for more than 5 years to escape CGT. Also of course you might be liable for tax wherever you are now.

It might come under money-laundering reporting rules if you're transferring a large amount of money overseas.

"Many", in this case is 16 years. I will have both acquired and disposed of the property during that period, so I'm fairly sure it would be CGT exempt.

Shouldn't be a problem as I can prove the source of the funds.