Capital Gains on sales of land - No previous paperwork

bobbyrabbit

I'm just taking over the finances for my Mother In Law who has just sold 11 acres of land.

She transferred smaller pockets of land in the 90's but has no records at all regarding these transfers. They were transferred freely to members of family or friends. From what I can ascertain these transfers were all written up legally.

The accountant dealing is saying that he can not do anything unless he has figures, but unfortunately the original solicitors dealing have been taken over various times and the last re-incarnation have no records of any transactions or the area of land.

what is the worst case scenario of any payment to the inland revenue. What is the procedure as we can not find any documentation?

silvercar

You could see what information is held on land registry.

Any CGT tax would have been payable in the year after the sale. So for the 'smaller pockets' you could assume that any taxable payable would have been dealt with at the time (or no tax was payable as the value was low and the gain less than her CGT allowance).

For this recent sale, you can only base your calculations on the information you have available to you. If all the land was worth roughly the same, I would be inclined to calculate the proportion of the original land remaining and base your calculations on the initial land value as that share of the original land value. If you haven't got an original land value there must be standard tables of land values by area and type somewhere in existence, though I know not where!

I would make a stab at the figures and allow the revenue to dispute your figures if they see fit.

bobbyrabbit

Regarding the land registry. I managed to download the title deeds from the land registry website, my accountant said they were not of any use!

I have just found a letter dated 1999 from a local Estate Agent valuing the land at £5000, would this be of any help towards calculations.