Capital Gains Tax

bloodyknackered

I need advice..

I sold a property in Nov 08 which I bought in 2001. I bought the property for my own use but only lived there for one year. I then moved abroad and rented the property out to various tenants. I have submitted tax returns for my rental income (which has been minimal - usually just covering the mortgage). I sold the property for a good profit. I do not and have not owned another property during the time I've owned this flat. Do I need to pay capital gains tax??

John_Pierpoint

There is a provision that allows people "forced" to live where their employment is, to buy a home of their own and rent it for the duration of their forced absence (eg a pub landlord). Don't know if you might have a case for going down this route.

You would have been better advised to cut your links from the uk and get the tenants (or agent) to deduct the tax from your rent? Then you could have sold the property as a non resident? Obviously that would have given you a capital gain in your host country, which may or may not have been taxable depending on local laws.
It would have also helped to have moved back in again before selling if the non resident angle was a non starter..

My personal experience of selling a house, where the gain qualified for an exemption, was that I still had to do all the calculations and identify the exact amount of tax I would not be paying.
That was a waste of a day of my life.

CLAPTON

post up the full figures
month and year you bought
when you moved out
whne you rented the place out
when you sold
purchase price
selling price
approx cost of buying /selling

maybe theres no tax to pay anyway.

00ec25

you can claim letting relief which, as clapton says, may mean you have little or no CGT to pay, depending on how much gain you have actually made
read my example I posted here at reply #4
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1782767&highlight=