CGT Base Cost - Gifted Deposit Discount ?

[bd6759]

We are actually loking at different sides of the same coin.

Both Symonds and Day & Dalgety looked at the position of the seller and wondered if the cashback should be deducted from the consideration received. They looked solely at the CGT position of the seller. Neither considered the position of the purchaser.

To my mind it has to be the price actually paid. This is because the circumstances of the original sellor are irrelvant. You bought the property from a developer who gave you a discount. This was not a CGT transaction: it was trading transaction by the developer. The developer is liable to income tax and the discount will be a deduction in its trading accounts. If you were a trader and bought a van from a dealer and received a discount, you would only be able to claim the amount actually paid in your trading accounts. I cannot think of any good reason why that should be different in a transaction for CGT purposes. It would be strange if your acquition cost depended on the type of tax paid by the vendor (and it would be difficult for you to obtain that information).