Joint ownership of house, but single recipient of sale money - does this impact Capital Gains?

snooziep

My sister and I jointly own a second home which is now being sold and subject to Capital Gains tax on the increase in value.  We own the house 50/50 so understand we each need to go onto GOV.UK to calculate and pay the tax we each owe on our half of the profit.

The estate agent needs us to have a joint bank account, or we can agree for just one of us to receive the money from the house sale.  My concerns is that if one of us accepts the sale money, does that one person become solely liable for the tax?  Or can I just transfer half of the money to my sister (without breaching any gifting limits - as it i her money) and then we each calculate and pay our tax, taking our personal tax limits into account.  

Grateful for any advice
Cheers
Snoozie

user1977

I don't think it ought to affect the tax - she's entitled to her half of the money no matter whose account it goes to, so she'll be taxed on it.

TBagpuss

why does the agent have anything to do woth the sale money? Normally, the money goes to your conveyancing solicitor and they can generally arrange to have the funds paid to you separately, as long as you give them instructions to do so. 

Even if for some weird reason the agents are handling the funds thre is absolutely no reason they can't pay 50% to each of you. If they are really saying they can't then get them to explain, in eriting, what they are saying and what their reasoning is. 

macman

As above: the EA should be having nothing to do with the distribution of the funds incoming. The conveyancer will receive them, deduct their fee and 'various disbursements' and the agent's fee, pay the agent and then remit the balance to the 2 owners in whatever proportions are required.
You could agree that it all goes to one account, but why would you?

snooziep

TBagpuss said:

why does the agent have anything to do woth the sale money? Normally, the money goes to your conveyancing solicitor and they can generally arrange to have the funds paid to you separately, as long as you give them instructions to do so. 

Even if for some weird reason the agents are handling the funds thre is absolutely no reason they can't pay 50% to each of you. If they are really saying they can't then get them to explain, in eriting, what they are saying and what their reasoning is. 

Sorry my fault - yes solicitor not estate agent (menopause brain fog).  They are only giving the option of joint account or pay one person.  There is a fee for the transaction which we would rather not pay twice.  I can ask them to explain but if their answer is "that is just how we do it" then I still need the tax question answered.   

snooziep

snooziep said:

My sister and I jointly own a second home which is now being sold and subject to Capital Gains tax on the increase in value.  We own the house 50/50 so understand we each need to go onto GOV.UK to calculate and pay the tax we each owe on our half of the profit.

The estate agent needs us to have a joint bank account, or we can agree for just one of us to receive the money from the house sale.  My concerns is that if one of us accepts the sale money, does that one person become solely liable for the tax?  Or can I just transfer half of the money to my sister (without breaching any gifting limits - as it i her money) and then we each calculate and pay our tax, taking our personal tax limits into account.  

Grateful for any advice
Cheers
Snoozie

EDIT: Sorry, I meant Solicitor not Estate Agent (apologies, my brain is fried right now).

donutandbeer

Our solicitor had no problem transferring the sale money to two different accounts (each owned by one of the house owners) separately. Don’t think we had been quoted to pay more for that. How much extra are they charging? Surely that’s the easiest route to go about this.

RAS

I'd expect a CHAPS payment to cost a maximum of £30 but the solicitor may charge time as well. Ask?

macman

I suggest you go back to your solicitor and clarify this again. Yes, there will be two CHAPS fees, rather than one, which you will be billed for, but that is all. 
I can see no possible reason for them not to distribute to as many recipients as there are ex-owners of the property. It's no different to winding up an estate: the payments need to be made to as many accounts as there are beneficiaries.

user1977

As I said though, I can't see it makes any difference to the tax liability whose account the monies go to.