Our overview to the rules and regulations set by HMRC concerning property sales if you are a UK non-resident.
One major benefit of being non-resident from the UK, apart from the weather, is the fact you are going to be tax free. However, HMRC have a new tax ploy in place to charge tax to non-residents.
If you are non-resident and sell a residential property in the UK you will be liable to Capital Gains Tax on the sale.
If you sell a residential property in the UK, you have to report the sale to HMRC online within 30 days of the sale. This is regardless of the there being a profit or loss on the sale. Unless you have to already submit self-assessment tax returns, the capital gains tax has to be paid within 30 days of the sale.
HMRC have been nice enough though to only calculate capital gains tax from the appreciation value starting in April 2015. Most properties have gained minimal value since April 2015 there usually is no capital gain to pay tax on.
As always with HMRC failure to comply will result in heavy penalties. If you don’t report the sale within the 30 days of the sale, you can be fined up to £1,600. These will be applied to you even if no capital gains tax is due. If tax is due further penalties may be added if you failure to notify them.
You as the seller are responsible for letting HMRC know about the sale within the 30 days after the sale. If you own the property jointly, you will both have to make a declaration of the sale to HMRC.
Non-resident Clients – please inform us asap if you are selling a property back in the UK. We need to know the date of the sale to help you with this.
