Expats who need to pay capital gains tax online after selling a home in the UK can log in to a new online tax service.
If an expat makes a profit on selling a home in the UK after April 6, they have just 30 days from completing the sale to calculate how much they owe and make the payment.
To access the service, expats must have a UK property account with HM Revenue and Customs.
Taxpayers who already have a Government Gateway ID can log in and go straight to the capital gains tax (CGT) portal.
Expats without a Government Gateway ID must create an account.
The process should only take a few minutes and involves registering an email account and verifying the address.
When this is done, a confirmation code is issued online and when this is entered into the Government Gateway the account goes live.
What expats need to tell the tax man
Expat landlords also need to have a lot of other information ready to use the portal.
Questions asked include:
- The address and postcode of the property
- Confirmation the property is residential, for instance, a buy to let, shared house, holiday let or second home. Homes where friends or relatives live rent-free are also subject to CGT.
- Date when property ownership started
- Date contracts were exchanged contracts when selling the property
- Date the sale completed
- Market value of the property at the date ownership started
- Market value of the property at the date ownership stopped
- Any costs involved with buying, selling or improving the property.
- Any claim for tax reliefs, allowances or exemptions
What to do about joint ownership
If the home was jointly owned, the figures should be broken down pro rata with each owner’s percentage ownership and the dates their ownership started or ended.
“Some elements of the service won’t be fully implemented until early May. Until then, you won’t be able to amend returns or send additional ones for the same person and if someone is acting as a capacitor for someone else the service won’t open for them until May,” said an HMRC spokesman.
“If this applies, you’ll get a service message that explains the alternative arrangements we have put in place. We expect that this will only affect a small number of people.”
