CGT solicitors don't have the completion statement

[justasking111]

We bought a second home in 2012. Sold December 1 . Accountants need the completion statement when we purchased. Solicitors have no paperwork, before 2019. We've run over the 60 days to pay now having completed on 1 November. I handed every ingoing, out going up to the day of completion on 10 November. God knows what the accountants did from then until 3rd January when they suddenly started emailing me. Accountants fault imo This is another hurdle.

We're dreading the fine

When we sold a second home in 2021 we self reported using the online system and paid within 30days. I presume they have extended the payment time to 60days from your post. We ticked the box that it was an estimate. My accountant then sorted out the actual tax owed the following year when preparing my accounts for the year the sale fell into. I ended up with a refund because I’d had time to find all the documents and invoices required to support the CGT payment.
If you have a rough idea of the value pay it now and then submit the actual figures when prepared. It’s worth overpaying to avoid interest and a fine.

Thanks but ours was a bit more complicated because tenants caused nearly 7k worth of damage which accountants said needed to be taken into account, they never suggested a ballpark figure which might be adjusted. I'm really annoyed.

Is there anything that can be provided in lieu of the completion statement? What is needed to prove?

But that doesn’t matter since it occurred in 23/24 tax year which does not need to be filed until Jan 25 you would be able to pay an estimated amount within 30 days ( the online return for CGT calculates the tax owed) then it would be adjusted in Jan25 giving you plenty of time to prepare accurate accounts with expenses incurred. I’m surprised that your accountant has not suggested this.
As I said we paid a ball park figure then submitted the actual accounts with the relevant tax return.
I suppose if you don’t submit a tax return each year then it’s foreign territory and your accountant will just charge you for the extra work.

We completed our sale on 8/4/21 so had until Jan 23 to file the accurate return since the sale was in 21/22 tax year. We had the basic figures to calculate the gain and made a conservative estimate of expenses. The accountant did the nitty gritty and we were refunded the overpayment in Jan 23.
The house was owned by my siblings and me so the only thing we had to be careful of is that we all submitted the same figures.

It's not the accountant's or the solicitor's fault, it's yours.
Why don't you have a copy of the completion statement?
You surely know what you bought it for, what you sold it for and what you can offset against the gain. It's simple enough to submit estimated figures and pay the tax liability to avoid penalties. If you have overpaid it will be refunded.
If you don't have any idea of the figures and you have just left it to someone else to sort out then more fool you.

Well you're bloody rude.

I know exactly how much we paid for it as does the accountant all those figures were given to them including all the paperwork including the solicitors papers at the time. They're supposed to be stored for us for twenty years at a facility.

The solicitors I would expect them to also have stored paperwork which they did but were then bought out and everything pre 2019 was disposed of.

So no it's not our fault neither the accountant nor the solicitors contact us to say that our paperwork would be destroyed after a certain time, or when a new owner took over.

It really is down to the taxpayer to keep their own records. Unfortunately the tax law doesn't allow you to blame either your accountant or solicitor for this even if they have mislaid their records. Your tax, your problem.

If you want to take your professional advisers to court, you are unlikely to win on this but if they are in the wrong, you may succeed in getting a settlement from their insurers.

The accountants have already said that they will cover any fines because it was their tardiness that caused this problem. We've used them for many years. The family solicitors cover three generations going back to the 1920s. Again we've never had a problem before.

I wasn't being rude. Just honest.
If your accountants are covering any fines I'm not sure what the point of the post was unless this has been agreed after your original post.

My financial affairs aren't particularly complicated although probably a bit more involved that most, but having spent all my life in financial services I wouldn't dream of not having my own paper records of all my important financial transactions.