Capital Gains Tax Mitigation Question
One of our properties becomes vacant next month and I am very tempted to sell it. It has at least £50k equity in it and would nicely fund some opportunities in 2014 without affect our cash flow too much.
The property is just in my name.
If I put it in joint names with my wife, is this a perfectly legitimate thing to do in order to wipe out any CGT liability?
No other taxable gains for the current tax year.
Also, is it a very straight forward thing to do?
What is the mortgage lender’s criteria for allowing the move to joint names?
Finally how long would it take to process?
Thanks
Chris
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How mortgage broking has changed post credit crunch
Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 333
6:06 PM, 23rd November 2013, About 12 years ago
Reply to the comment left by “Richard Kent ” at “23/11/2013 – 17:53“:
P.S
Just a quick quote from the that document in case you find it useful.
“The final 36 months of your period of ownership always qualify for relief,
regardless of how you use the property in that time, as long as the dwelling
house has been your only or main residence at some point.”
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12207 - Articles: 1403
7:56 PM, 23rd November 2013, About 12 years ago
@Ian Ringrose – good point, I had overlooked the fact that the property was not going to be let. It would need to be let for at least six months to demonstrate it was intended to be held as a rental property.
@Matthew Sands – there would be CGT to pay on the transfers if the other parties being added were not spouses.
.
Member Since July 2013 - Comments: 8
10:45 AM, 24th November 2013, About 12 years ago
Another possibility to consider is putting the ownership of the property with your wife as tenants in common rather than joint owners. This gives more flexibility – you can be 50:50 owners or 20:80 and it is easy to change at any point with some straightforward legal documentation in the future if that could be more beneficial from a tax point of view.