Capital Gains Tax .. imperfect info

TillerGirl72

Hi, I bought a property in 2004 ( a holiday home). I sold it in February this year.
Im trying to do the CGT return for HMRC but am stumped on one thing.

I bought the property for £109,500 . I can find out how much stamp duty I would have paid but I’ve lost the invoice for how much I paid in conveyancing fee. (Solicitors say they no longer have records). Can I put in an estimated figure? What would I base it on?
Is there an app that helps calculate CGT in a simple way? I find if I try to do this online with HMRC I can’t save progression and they helpfully delete everything after a couple of hours to protect me from scammers.
Grateful for any thoughts. It’s not a big deal of money but it’s supposed to be my retirement money so I’m keen not to pay more CGT than I need. Thanks in advance for replies . 🙏🏻

Spelunthus

We sold a 2nd home about 4 years ago. I was amazed at how casual the process was for reporting CGT liability.

The HMRC website askes for evidence of purchase price, and date and the same for the sale. As the purchase was 30 years ago, we had almost no evidence - but I found and uploaded an old purchase document. The amounts I declared were based mostly on guesses (for the purchase), and documents(for the sale). It was incredibly easy. The website then calculated the CGT libaility and I bank-transferred the requested amount.

I never even received a receipt (let alone a thank-you). End of process.

Isthisforreal99

2004 rates easily found online - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-stamp-duty-land-tax/stamp-duty-land-tax-rates-1-december-2003-to-16-march-2005

TillerGirl72

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81926447#Comment_81926447

Yes, I was doing fine with reporting it online a couple of weeks ago, but then the progress I’d made was deleted for security reasons. I have no paperwork of any sort concerning the purchase, I just remember the price ( which is verifiable on Rightmove). I don’t know what the conveyancing costs were but can check out the stamp duty on line.
Today I can’t get into the system for love or money. I use a mobile phone and it’s not got a compatible operating system to the HMRC app. I think I may have to buy a new phone, How I managed to make progress two weeks ago, I don’t know. Thank you for your reply. I do have a paper version of the HMRC form so I’ll have to send that in I guess and make a guesstimate about conveyancing costs. 🤷‍♀️

TillerGirl72

Thanks. Yes the Stamp Duty is not the problem, because that’s researchable, as you say. It’s how much were the other costs..solicitor and Estate Agent? ( Solicitor has already said their accounts department don’t keep records as far back as 2004)

DRS1

What about old bank statements from the time?

TillerGirl72

I don’t have them 😭

mybestattempt

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81936295#Comment_81936295

If you cannot find the precise amounts then either claim nothing for the legal fees for the purchase or use a reasonable estimate.

DRS1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81926855#Comment_81926855

I was going to say don't try to claim for estate agent fees from when you bought the place (since they only charge the seller) but then I thought did you have a survey done? If you did and still have a copy of that perhaps the surveyors bill will be in with the survey?

The other random thought is do you have access to old emails - if any communications with the solicitors were by email maybe there are still some documents attached like a bill or a completion statement. I know it is going back a bit but sometimes you can search by sender or title.

TillerGirl72

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81936674#Comment_81936674

Many thanks for flagging up about Estate Agents.
Im hopeless, I really am! I’ve tried to check old emails from the solicitor but fear they may be on a laptop mouldering in my car port.
And of course I can’t recall if I had a survey done, although knowing my timidity, I probably did.
Ive searched loads and loads of box files in my home without coming up with the goods.
Ive even searched old diaries. ( I’ve kept diaries for a very long time) The only reference to the solicitor’s fees ( who did the conveyancing) was that they made a request for an extra £50 for something or other.
Right now I’m debating two options 1) Continue searching through old boxes of files in my garden shed. At least seven big plastic boxes of them still to go through but they are hard to access as the shed is full of other stuff and the dust is aggravating my hay fever…

Or…

2) Use an article from the Guardian for 2004 as a basis for estimating conveyancing costs . It was on the very topic ‘How much does it cost to move house’ . Will that wash do you think? It’s either that or carry on in the Garden Shed of Doom, hacking my lungs out.

DRS1

Not sure what to say. I know there is a place on the self assessment form where you can say if you have used estimated figures so HMRC understand you can't always find the precise figures. I don't know how they would feel about the Guardian article - after all the costs of conveyancing can vary from area to area and property to property or even according to whether you are buying or selling.

As for looking further in the shed - there is a deadline for reporting the gain isn't there? So sooner or later you just call it a day.