Portuguese property

There's also a change in the UK tax regime. If you intend using it as a personal holiday home the IR consider that there is a BIK to you from the company that owns the property and you will receive a bill for tax on the rental that you haven't paid.

If you want to use it solely to rent out or to live in full time then this isn't a problem.

tim

I don't think it's a regime change. A lot (most?) people did not realise that the company device to avoid (usually) the Inheritance legislation of France, Portugal etc had any UK BIK tax ramifications.

I'm not intending to rent it out - just use it as a holiday home. Does this mean I would be better to *avoid* a property being sold by an offshore co then?

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about Portuguese law to say which is the best option for property acquisition.

I would certainly recommend seeking professional advice before committing yourself.

Tim

Could you elaborate, or point to a source please? Can't see how even our grabbing lot can consider it 'benefit in kind' if I pay full market value with my own hard-earned and tax paid cash!?

But you are not. You are buying shares in a company. It just happens that the company owns a house. If that company then gives you some return on that investment (as you would normally expect it to), that return is taxable as income. In this case the income is the forgone rent that you might have paid when you use the house.

You may think that it isn't fair. But no-one forced you to use this contrived method to buy the house.

tim