Woodland And Capital Gains Tax

[Hedgesfullofbirds]

Good evening - I am hoping to pick the brains of any tax advisors, particularly those with knowledge of woodland and forestry taxation matters, who may be willing to give me some advice please.

In 1993 I purchased a parcel of woodland, partially to manage for my own enjoyment, but also as an investment to help boost my pension. The time has now arrived to consider parting with it!

I paid £15.5K for it when I purchased it, plus legal fees. It is now valued at C £120K. If I sell it, how is CGT calculated? Is it based on the net sale figure, the net sale figure less any associated legal and agents fees or the 'uplift' berween the purchase price and the sale price?

For context, I own my residential dwelling outright, the woodland does not form part of the curtilage of my residential property and it has never been in commercial management during my ownership - apart from selling some firewood and some hazel coppice material to thatchers and hedgelayers I have received no income from it.

How do I roughly calculate how much CGT liability I will have please? Thank you in advance.

I'm not a tax advisor but just did a google search and read through the HMRC website plus a couple of articles published by tax advisors and it states in quite a few places that as the woodland hasn't been managed as a commercial enterprise it's subject to normal CGT rules ie £6k annual allowance and the rest is either 18% or 28% depending on if you are a basic or higher rate taxpayer.

I did note that undeveloped land is subject to a lower tax rate (10% or 18% respectively) so assume that amenity woodland could fall under this definition? To be honest it's too niche a question for Mumsnet to help with so probably worth spending the few hundred pounds to get an actual tax advisor to do the tax return for you. You can offset disposal costs against the CGT.

Thank you @MavisTheMonkey, useful information. I appreciate that taxation relating to woodland and forestry is a very niche area and that paid for, professional advice is the way forward! I now live over 100 miles away from the land (wheras previously I lived 20 minutes drive away), and consequently it is nigh on impossible for me to be able to spend time managing it correctly - the time has come to say "goodbye" to it, sadly!