From 6 April 2020 any sales of UK real estate will have to be reported to HMRC within 30 days. This has been the rule for residential property for some time but now applies to any real property.
30 days is a short period of time in which to assemble all the information you will need and there will be penalties for late filing, so it is wise to ensure that you have the following details to hand:
- Date of acquisition, cost of purchase and other costs such as legal fees or stamp duty land tax.
- Dates in which you lived in the property
- Dates where you shared it with a lodger?
- Improvement expenses such as a new kitchen or extension (with invoices)
- Date and proceeds of sale. Costs of sale such as legal fees or agency fees.
Importantly for non UK residents , the 30 day reporting will usually apply to indirect sales of real estate. This means that you also need to know if you dispose of holdings in:
- A company which derives more than 75% of its value from UK real estate
- A collective investment scheme invested in UK property such as a REIT or similar.
The rules on these things are detailed and there are particular issues if you are the director or shareholder of a non UK company or a trustee of a settlement resident outside the UK.
If anything in the above note applies to you please do come to talk to us. You can speak to your usual Mercer & Hole contact or Lisa Spearman.
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