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Scottish property tax upon sale. Probably a bit niche.

2 replies

HirplesWithHaggis · 29/12/2015 00:04

So I've asked in Scotsnet as well. Here's the post...

Some years ago, friends (not married) bought two adjacent, almost derelict cottages. They lived in one while doing up the other, then set up as a business letting the renovated cottage, and using the profits from that and other self-employed income, to make the other house more habitable. All duly accounted for to HMRC, my female friend is a stickler, while her ex is, er, not.

Friends split a few years ago, she stayed with their dc in the bigger, but not fully-renovated property. He moved into the small cottage next door, ending the joint enterprise of letting as a holiday cottage, and he agreed to pay her £x to remove him from her title deeds/mortgage, and her name from the smaller place.

Since then he has married and moved away, and he and his wife let the cottage to ordinary tenants (rather than as a holiday let.) It is not currently tenanted, and is up for (Court-ordered) sale because he has significant debts and no other way to repay them.

Female friend and I are wondering if the property is due Capital Gains Tax (because it's not the ex's primary dwelling) and/or to be taxed as profit realised from a company/business assets when said business (letting) is no longer running?

OP posts:

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snowypenguin · 29/12/2015 16:42

He will need to declare the asset as a sale on a tax return but there may not be capital gains to pay. It will all depend on price, proceeds, expenses and any reliefs for it being his private residence etc. He then has his CGT allowance.

Was it set up as a company or a partnership at anytime?

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HirplesWithHaggis · 04/01/2016 16:31

Thanks for the reply, and sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I think it was probably setup as a company when he was still with his ex, she did all his books. What has happened since we don't know (except that he's lied to HMRC about his self-employed earnings... ) Having looked a bit further, it seems CGT @ 18% will be due even if it's viewed as an asset of the business, so that's all good.