CGT...

[ARD]

By transferring a property into joint names, does the CGT allowance double up i.e. 8.2k becomes 16.4k? What would be the impact if one of the joint owners has a 90% share in the property ?

[plym77]

Hi Ard

Everyone has a CGT Annual Exemption each year (currently £8,800), so as long as it has not already been utilised in the tax year, if there are two owners, then £8,800 each is available.

It doesn't matter how much of a share of the property a person owns, the CGT Annual Exemption is a personal relief, and so cannot be 'added up' across the whole gain.

So for example, if the total gain after all other reliefs but before the CGT Annual Exemption is £50,000 and the ownership is 90:10 split, then taxpayer 1 has a gain of £45,000, less £8800 CGT AE, the balance being taxable, and taxpayer 2 has a gain of £5,000 so part of the CGT AE would be wasted for the second person.

If you own a property as 90:10 then you must hold it as Tenants in Common, in which case you could look at the apportionment, this is quite simple for married couples to do prior to exchange to sell without the need to go to Land Registry. If however you are not married, there is still opportunity to re-address this and put it right as long as there is enough time to plan ahead, as planning would need to be done the tax year before you intend to sell, so for a sale post 5 April 2007, planning would need to be implemented by 5/4/07.

Should you require specific advice, please feel free to email me for a competative quote to review this for you. My email is sherena.glanton@horwath.co.uk and I am a Chartered Tax Adviser

Hope this helps

Kind regards

Sherena