A married couple living separately in two houses wishing to sell

[NCross]

We have been living apart in two houses (both jointly owned) for the past two years due to job situations. We now plan to sell one of them, temporarily move into the other, and eventually to buy a home where we will live together. The IR local office tells me that which ever house we sell first will be regarded as the second home and attract CGT. They also tells me that we need to elect one of them as our joint main residence, even though we work in different parts of the UK (300 miles apart).I would be very grateful for any pointer. Thank you very much.

[James Smith]

NCross,

Your Inland Revenue office will tend to take the "most tax" approach, and their simplistic 'advice' should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Whilst is it true that a married couple can only have one principle private residence at anyone time, there are a large number of provisions for instances where you do for example need to live away due to work, or have two homes. You may actually be able to solve this with an election depending on your precise circumstances.

If you would like to go through this in more detail then please let me know.

Regards,

James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk
01284 764436