turbogav

Anyone know roughly how much capital gains tax I would pay on a second home I have owned for two years? Bought for 90k, now worth about 125k.Thought it might be worth selling as we haven't used it very much, and the market seems to have levelled off a bit. I think the CGT allowance is about 8k per year - is that right? So would I end up paying 40% on the rest of the gain? Approximate figures would be good if anyone knows anything about this. Thanks. Gav.

Brit_in_Japan

Move into the house to establish it as your primary residence (get bills in your name etc). When you now sell this house you pay no CGT.

Dracoro

you have to live there for a while though (2yrs or 6 months I think).

Also, it would mean property 1 is then liable for cgt if he sells it.

pay gordon your cash, everyone's happy then

MattW

we haven't used it? Is it in joint names, if so you get double CGT allowances.

Brit_in_Japan

Get proper advice, I'm sure you can avoid all CGT is you establish residency for a period.

The Snug Rhino

cant belive poeple think you have make a gain on a non-excempt asset, then convert it to an excempt asset and use that excemption for a time when it did not apply????

talk to an accountant as (in this case) the CGT is almost a non-issue - DONT listen to the rubish on here though.

Longjing

If you move in and lie about how long you've been there, maybe. You only get one primary residence, so all you can do is move the primary res exemption around... and that's supposed to reflect reality, ie be the place you normally live. Normally electing a second home is bad idea because second homes tend to be worth less.

You can deduct allowances (at least 8k, more if joint names) and capital expenditure (improvements rather than maintenance). At a guess a 35k gain might mean a 10k tax bill.