Capital Gains Tax on 2nd home used daily

yseglias

Hello. We bought a second home in another city, which my wife and son have been using daily. My son used it whilst at university but has now left, and my wife still uses it when she is there for work purposes, as she works in that city.

Is the property subject to the same CGT rules if we sell it? And any help re how we can reduce the tax burden?

Many Thanks 

Pennywise

You can only have one "home" that is exempt from CGT as your main residence at any time.  Just because you "use" two homes doesn't mean that you can claim main residence relief for CGT on both,

You can elect that your second home is your "main" residence for periods of time to reduce CGT as it would then be exempt for those periods (time apportioned gain), but if you did that, your first home wouldn't be exempt for those same periods.  With careful timing, you could reduce your CGT exposure, but you do need to research the rules re elections, i.e. you need to make an election within a certain period of buying the second, so quite complicated.

DE_612183

are both properties in joint names?

Jeremy535897

This is a good place to start:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-residence-relief-hs283-self-assessment-helpsheet/hs283-private-residence-relief-2022

yseglias

DE_612183 said:

are both properties in joint names?

Yes in both names

Brie

Would it make a difference if one house was in one person's name and the other in the spouse's?

silvercar

Brie said:

Would it make a difference if one house was in one person's name and the other in the spouse's?

Not if you are married to each other. A married couple can generally only have one primary residence between them.