If my spouse or I go to live in our second home

born_again

StormyNight151 said:

It’s not as if I am asking for a discount however.

Why not. You would be entitled to single person discount. If you truly both living in each house.

Bigphil1474

There is a thread here which covers council tax:-
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6531695/relationship-between-council-tax-on-second-home-capital-gains-tax-exemption-on-main-residence

Council tax rules will vary but there is a link in the above thread to a Westmorland and Furness council website which says:-

"For married and unmarried couples, even if you each own or rent a home, you will be treated as having one main residence for which you will pay the full Council Tax."

So you and your partner can live where you want, but you can only have one main residence unless your local rules are different for some reason, or if you no longer are genuinely a couple.

Grumpy_chap

StormyNight151 said:

Does it matter whether it’s a separation or not? 

StormyNight151 said:

It’s not as if I am asking for a discount however.

Well, you would be getting a discount by avoiding the CT surcharge on the second home.
Plus, assuming you are both now only one person in each property, you would get the single person reduction on both properties.

CGT will not be avoided if you are one couple you can only have one primary residence between you.

Brie

How would CT be treated if a couple, not separating, but living apart due to work be considered?  So one lives in their London property and the other in their property in Glasgow, for instance.

lincroft1710

StormyNight151 said:

You are presuming I’m trying to get something out of it. I’m just wondering about going to live there. 

If you are not separating and it is not for work then why would one of you want to live apart from the other?

Councils are suspicious organisations, so if anything unusual like this happens then they will suspect an attempt at some form of CT avoidance

Flugelhorn

Brie said:

How would CT be treated if a couple, not separating, but living apart due to work be considered?  So one lives in their London property and the other in their property in Glasgow, for instance.

interesting question - decades ago we had 2 houses when we first married and though we spent our free time together our work / on call time was spent at different properties - council tax surcharge wasn't an issue then - presume if someone could prove that they were living somewhere else for work it might be viewed differently by a council?

caprikid1

Could be trying to avoid Capital gains tax ? Turning it into a primary residence ?

Grumpy_chap

caprikid1 said:

Could be trying to avoid Capital gains tax ? Turning it into a primary residence ?

That won't work:
https://www.agmead.co.uk/factsheets/capital-taxes/capital-gains-tax-and-the-family-home
"In the case of a married couple (or civil partnership), there can only be one main residence for both"

Bookworm105

born_again said:

StormyNight151 said:

It’s not as if I am asking for a discount however.

Why not. You would be entitled to single person discount. If you truly both living in each house.

your knowledge appears limited
for a married couple there is an assumption that the main residence is the same property for each person
you cannot have a his 'n hers and certainly not single person discount UNLESS the couple have separated (or in the very specific circumstances in the post below)

Bookworm105

Brie said:

How would CT be treated if a couple, not separating, but living apart due to work be considered?  So one lives in their London property and the other in their property in Glasgow, for instance.

read: Council Tax for couple with two homes who work apart — MoneySavingExpert Forum