Property Tax Insider (Last 3 Months)

As part of our first issue free trial, we are giving away the current month and the last two months of the Property Tax Insider magazine! That means you get three issues of the magazine delivered right to your doorstep.

Here is what tax busting strategies, secrets and tips are covered...

MAY 2012

• No CGT on BTL Properties?
  A popular piece of tax planning for buy-to-let investors is to move into a property and live in it for a few months before selling it, thus attracting the exemption from CGT for a “main residence” for the last three years of ownership, together with the...
• Trader or Investor - Why it Matters
  Which would you prefer - a capital gains tax bill of 18% or an income tax and national insurance contributions bill of 29% or 42% (or possibly even 52%) on the profit made on the sale of a property? The choice can be yours but planning...
• More Than One Home – Which One Is Your Main Residence? 
  At first sight, it would seem that the answer to the question `What is a dwelling house?’ is At first sight, this may seem something of a straightforward question. If you have more than one home, logic would suggest that this is the property at which you spend the majority of your time. However, as far as the main residence exemption for capital gains tax (CGT) purposes is concerned, this...
• Buyer Beware! Government Crackdown on High Value Property and Property Tax Avoidance 
  In his 2012 Budget Speech on 21 March, the Chancellor set out a number of measures designed to combat perceived abuse of the tax rules in relation to properties. Just in case you lost them amongst the headlines about “granny tax” and “pasty tax”, they cover...

APRIL 2012

• More on the Renewals Allowance
  The article on HMRC’s withdrawal of the “renewals allowance” (RA) in the February 2012 edition of Property Tax Insider has caused a lot of interest, and some questions from readers. This article seeks to deal with those questions and to give further information on the implications of the withdrawal...
• Transferring Property – Plan Ahead!
  Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is often a tax that is forgotten about until an event takes place to remind us that it is there. This ‘event’ is usually the selling of an asset or assets. Invariably the asset is sold with little or no thought to tax planning which, if undertaken timeously...
• Buying a House for Someone Else to Live in
  It is easy to envisage a number of scenarios where one person may buy a house for another person to live in. While tax is unlikely to be the driving factor in a decision to provide accommodation for someone else, it is advisable to consider the tax consequences... 
• Tax Planning and the Family Home: Common Pitfalls and Possible Solutions
  This article looks at the two main tax problems for passing down the family home to your children, and offers some possible “workarounds” that may suit some readers and their families. There can be several reasons for wanting to gift the family home before one dies...

MARCH 2012

• Is a Holiday Let “Business Property” for Inheritance Tax?
  In most cases, “business property” attracts 100% relief for the purposes of inheritance tax (IHT) once it has been owned for two years. So if you own such property when you die, its value will not be counted when working out the taxable amount of your estate for IHT. It is also possible to make gifts of business property during your lifetime without... 
  
• Quality Not Time...Private Residence Relief
  One of the first articles written for Property Tax Insider way back in November 2010 dealt with a question that many a tax adviser is asked by clients who own property, namely: ‘How long do I have to live in a property before HMRC will accept that it is my ‘main residence’...’ The article described the tax tribunal case of... 
  
• Beating the First-Time Buyer SDLT Clock!
  Time is running out for first-time buyers to take advantage of the temporary increase in the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) threshold from £125,000 to £250,000. The impending deadline has, according to figures from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), boosted house sales whilst the Council of Mortgage Lenders has reported...
• Property Rental Businesses - What Expenses Can I Claim?
  This article is intended to give a quite comprehensive checklist of expenses incurred by a landlord that can be claimed for income tax purposes in a normal property rental business.  The list doesn’t cover every conceivable expense but hopefully should give the reader a useful guide – with some tips and warnings...