just cannot believe our luck - soooo angry

[MrsMillsletoe]

We are due to be emigrating to Sweden on 3rd January. DH's employer are providing us with accommodation for up to 18 months until we sell our home in England. Everything is ready, the contracts are signed, the packers and removers are booked, schools notified etc etc.

Yesterday DH had a meeting with a Swedish tax advisor who informs us that when we come to sell our home in England, we will be liable to pay 30% tax on the profit we make. This works out at about £45k! There is just no way we can afford to lose that much money, nor will we have enough for a deposit on a house in Stockholm. I am so angry, upset, devastated and lots of other words.

DH is holding emergency talks but it's not looking good.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks sprucylucy5, E&Y are being paid bucket loads of money to find a loophole for us. Unfortunately we need to be registered to do all the normal things, like have electricity and a phone line

Am off to badger the expats!

Unfortunately this is correct under Swedish tax law. I got stung for it too, although as my house had gained very little in value, it was nowhere near the tax bill you are facing. By the way, you need to investigate your tax situation very carefully, I think I have been taxed on savings - not on the interest they are earning but on the bloody savings themselves. Anyone wondering why Sweden has such fabulous public services, this is why!

Swedish house prices do not rise in anything like the way they do here - precisely for this reason, no-one wants to be shelling out a massive amount of tax every time they buy and sell (and buying is somewhat rarer than here as well). The only way I know of to defer some of the cost is to claim for the costs of improvement works/renovations in order to 'explain' why the price has increased so much.

You could simply not declare it on your tax return but of course that is both risky and illegal.

Renting is very expensive for corporates and ex-pats, you may find that if a Swedish person looks for a flat for you it will mysteriously become quite a lot cheaper. I know that anywhere that's on the trainline to Stockholm is a lot more expensive than places that aren't, if your dh can consider a difficult commute it may become cheaper.

I have various friends in Stockholm who might be able to assist with ideas of reasonably-priced accommodation, CAT me if I can help.

You're right about being registered, btw, you basically can't move without a personal number, it's used for nearly everything. I've never used E&Y for tax but have found that other big firms like this are completely rubbish - sorry, not much help really! Alas I don't know any ex-pats in Sweden who were actually playing by the rules in terms of tax so I can't ask if they have a local tame accountant who might be able to help.

Thanks tribpot, I have asked the question on an expat forum, may get something there. Will also ask DH about the auction idea.

It was all going too smoothly. DH works for a massive employer, so let's find out how much they really want him to stay!

I had a couple of other thoughts this morning:

• you won't become tax resident for 183 days after your arrival (arguable whether this includes weekends/time spent out of the country, like if you were "in Denmark", for example (how would they prove whether you were or not was always part of our argument). However, I think that once you become tax resident this is retrospective back to the date that you entered the country

• I know it sounds mad, but is there any way your dh's company could buy your house from you before you leave the UK? I would have thought this was ultimately cheaper for them (although bizarre) than paying the tax bill or similar.

LOL - we have asked them to buy our home, unfortunately they said not.

An idea has come up - we move over as planned on 3rd January, but use those 183 days to sell our house, probably by auction. Although we will probably lose out, it won't be anywhere near as much as that tax bill. DH's employer will pay all utilities, car hire etc until we are able to become residents.

The only down side is that I won't be able to register ds's for daycare, but i was prepared to have them at home for a while anyway.

Just waiting for an answer from the legal people, hoping to find out today, I have already told school and nursery that they aren't coming back.

Tribpot and everyone else who replied - thank you all. I managed to get some sleep at last!

I would just double-check that once you go over the 183 days you are not deemed to have been resident since the day you first entered the country. Otherwise you'd be in trouble again. Shame in a way that you're entering Sweden at the very start of a tax year, as well.