Buying property in the UK

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whitedesire
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Buying property in the UK

Post by whitedesire »

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatn ... gners.html

The UK government is considering making people who live overseas (non-resident) and others paying capital gains on their properties. I'm sure there are wealthy guys in Thailand who this applies to.
Jun

Re: Buying property in the UK

Post by Jun »

This is potentially very unfair.

Firstly, Gordon Brown abolished CGT (Capital Gains Tax) inflation indexation a few years back, so you can now pay CGT even if merely keeping pace with inflation.

Or to put it another way, yo you pay CGT even though there is no capital gain..

Now imagine a homeowner who has to work abroad for 3 years. He returns to the UK and has to relocate in order to take a job in a new part of the country. So he sells his house and buys a similar one.

After years of money printing, house prices and the cost of living have risen by 20%, quite possible, looking ahead a few years. He could easily be taken for CGT on 20% of his property, plus have to pay stamp duty to move house. So he has to pay massive taxes just to keep the same standard of living.

That's not a capital gains tax, it's a tax creating a capital loss.

Now if they could restore inflation indexing, the idea might have some merit.

Also, is this topic in the wrong forum?
whitedesire
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Re: Buying property in the UK

Post by whitedesire »

I don't think it would work like that Jun, if the person came back to the UK, at some point, he would be resident again, so it probably wouldn't apply.

Yes, it is under the wrong "index", unless the person lived in Thailand and come back to England of course.

I was actually referring to people who lived in Thailand but it applies to any country actually.
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Gaybutton
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Re: Buying property in the UK

Post by Gaybutton »

Jun wrote:is this topic in the wrong forum?
Not anymore. Nice try whitedesire, but a topic doesn't magically become a topic about Thailand simply by merely mentioning Thailand.
Jun

Re: Buying property in the UK

Post by Jun »

whitedesire wrote:I don't think it would work like that Jun, if the person came back to the UK, at some point, he would be resident again, so it probably wouldn't apply.
If the government applies typical taxation principles, the tax would be payable for the years someone is abroad.

So if you own a house for 10 years and spend 3 of them abroad, the capital gains tax would be payable for those 3 years. IE 3/10ths x capital gain x tax rate.

Otherwise, it would be easily avoided by someone returning to the UK for 6 months.
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