How much capital gains tax do we pay?

[NoDontLookAtMeImShy]

Because online I'm getting told different things.
I'm trying to get through to them on the phone and keep failing. I just tried then, took ages and had to hang up because the baby woke up.

Does anyone know the percentage we pay for capital gains tax?

It was originally valued at £425k and sold for £490k

was the property your primary residence?

If it has been your principal residence for any length of time it will be full or partly exempt of cgt. There are also annual allowances.

www.gov.uk/tax-sell-property/work-out-your-gain

It was just for a couple of months

How do we pay capital gains tax? Do we call them up and pay it all in one hit when we have sold the house?

You need to get a decent accountant that is up to speed with property taxation rules , it can vary depending on how it's calculated and what allowances you are permitted and also personal allowances , honestly it's best to get an accountant as they will save you much more than you pay in fees

I sold in September and paid my ctg by the end of January the next tax year - nearly 18 months later

Thanks I will look up local accountants now.
I've just come to the same conclusion!

Do I deduct stamp duty?

Call up hmrc we've just paid some on an estate, they'll talk you through it. Then decide if you need an accountant.

The gain is 65k, your allowance is 12k if you are married your spouse can use their allowance too , or if not married and property is in joint names so potentially your gain is 41k, if you pay higher rate tax you pay 28%, if you don't you add gainto your salary and see if that takes you into higher rate tax, you then pay 28% on what is above higher rate and 20%roughly on what is below, you will need to submit a tax return and then you will be billed at end of tax year

Yes.
But honestly I echo the other posters in that you do need an accountant
We have just gone through the same process and discovered that what we thought would be a 30k bill (calculated ourselves using the online tool) is actually no more than 10k once all the allowances and exemptions have been calculated

We are married but the house was left to my husband so we can't use my tax relief

@Puppylucky that's a big difference.

What deductions did you do that made such a difference?

It wasn't me it was the accountant! That's the point - she knew more about what the allowances were and how to apply them than we did. Honestly just hand the whole thing over to someone who knows what they are doing

I had a brief talk on the phone and it sounds like there's very little they can take into account.

They said it would very simple.

They are going to cost £300 so I'm not sure it's worth it.

You say "left". How recently did the other person die? If you sold it so quickly after getting it and the value rose so much, it sounds as if it wasn't properly valued for probate. Can you amend probate to a higher value? Can the will be changed (needs all beneficiaries to agree) so that it was left jointly to you both? If it's not yet completed, he may be able to "gift" half to you so you can both use annual exemptions and both use any unused basic rate band. It may all be too late now, but if you give us some details, there may still be options. (Or better still, find a decent accountant to discuss these planning points rather than a cheap one who'll just do the calculations!) But if it's all done and dusted, completed, etc., then you're probably too late to change anything now.

You can deduct any costs of purchase or sale from the Gain, so any legal fees paid on both the purchase or sale plus stamp duty on the purchase and estate agent's fees on the sale. Basically any costs associated with the disposal.

I would see what the accountant says about their fees for preparing the tax return too. As you wouldn't have to prepare a tax return had it not been for the property sale I'd argue it was a reasonable cost deduction to make from the gain.

I'm a little confused though as you said your DH was left the property but you asked about Stamp Duty, which I don't think you pay on a probate transfer.

Your basic gain is £65,000 so assuming your DH has no other Capital Gains in the year, the worst case scenario on the tax is 28% of £53,000, so £14,840.

Any costs you can claim would reduce the gain and hence the tax also. If your DH isn't a higher rate tax payer, some of the gain would be taxed at 18% rather than 28% but it's best to look at the worst case scenario.

Assuming you didn't pay out £425,000 in the first instance if it's a probate transfer, you'd end up walking away with a very healthy sum, even after having paid the CGT.

I gifted ownership of a house to DH so we had 50% each. On the day of completion of the sale. If you have not completed, investigate this. I would pay £300 to potentially save money, especially if DH is going to pay 28%. You do have plenty of money coming in from the sale presumably. Has the Inheritance tax been paid by the estate?

3 years ago Kazzy.

UnfamousPoster can we still deduct stamp duty even if we aren't moving into the bought house right away?

We are having to move into rented so as not to lose our buyers. We are still doing searches on the property we are purchasing.

You claim the stamp duty on the house you are selling/have sold - ie the one that is subject to CGT- not the one you are buying.
Forget about the house you are buying, that's got nothing to do with the CGT situation - just focus on the buying and selling costs of the house you do /did own.
If it's a probate sale someone will need to do the homework to find out how much stamp duty was paid when the property was originally bought.
Honestly, 300 quid to do the legwork for you is worth it.

Thank you. The stamp duty part threw me completely!

I spoke to a really nice local guy this morning who was really really helpful (accountant). We will be using him.

Thanks for the help and the push in the right direction.

Sorry OP - bit late to reply, but Puppylucky is correct that the stamp duty on the new house is irrelevant.

Your gain will be calculated based on sales proceeds minus probate value (no original costs of acquisition will be taken in to account) minus any costs associated with selling it, so your legal fees, estate agents fees (and possibly as I said, at least part of the accountant's fees for doing the return).

You'll be left with a very healthy sum no matter what and it souns like you've found a good accountant to help.