CGT on joint owned property as expat

jonbennison

My bother and I have a joint mortgage on a property that we have been renting for the past four years. I now live in China and will do so for the foreseeable future and as far as i'm aware this means I am except for CGT after 5 years?

If this is the case is there a way that I can transfer the property into my name and minimise our CGT if we come to sell?

If there are issues with doing this then am I right in thinking that only he would be liable on CGT for his half of the property or its't it that simple?

Thanks for any advice

00ec25

if he transfers his share to you that is a disposal and triggers CGT for him based on the market value of his share transferred

you are out of date re the 5 year rule:
- non residents are liable for the gain made since 6 April 2015
- only the gain made up to that date remains exempt after 5 years of non residence

you are expected to have obtained a valuation of the property at 6 April 15 to support your tax return when you sell. B

bottom line, no you cannot hold UK property and expect to live UK tax free

Sibbers123

As above, it is not that simple. Any transfer to/from your brother will trigger a CGT charge based on the market value.

There are also extra obligations on non-residents when selling a property which many are unaware of.

There may (or may not) be things you can do to minimise the CGT payable in the UK but much more information will be needed to determine this.

radeon

Yes non residents exempt CGT is only for the period before 5 April 2015, any gain after this time is now subject to CGT.

Spent a lot of time myself trying to understand all this, there is but now some other letting reliefs have also been scrapped in yesterdays budget if you sell after April 2020. If you look at my post Returning to UK Tax in this forum it might give you a bit more info.