Capital Gains on Inherited House Sale for Non-Dom

[peterw2]

Hi,

My mother died leaving a house which is being sold. There are 4 benefactors in the Will, each due an equal share of the estate. All benefactors are UK nationals but two are not resident in the UK for tax purposes (one in Canada, one in Spain). How does this affect any capital gains that might be due on the house sale? Does each benefactor have an individual capital gains allowance that can be drawn on?

Thanks in advance!

[maths]

The executors should consider assenting the property to the beneficiaries prior to any sale.

This has the effect of each beneficiary having an annual exempt amount whereas a sale by the executors only permits one annual exempt amount.

Rates of CGT may also be lower.

[maths]

Should have also added that the tax position in the countries of residence of some of the beneficiaries needs to be taken into account if the beneficiaries not the executors effect the sale.

[peterw2]

Hi maths,

Thanks for the information, that started off a long train of phone calls. The estate agent involved said that if we did the assent, the house would not be sellable for 6 months due to anti-money laundering issues. Interestingly, all the agencies I spoke to have not agreed, including Land Registry. It is just the time it takes to do.

[maths]

Many so-called professionals do not really understand the Money Laundering Regulations; to say that because of these a sale takes 6 months can only politely be described as tripe.

In practice if the will is reasonably straight forward the difference in the timing of a sale by executors versus beneficiaries is minimal at best.

You just need a knowledgable solicitor.

Lee Young who regularly posts on this site is excellent; suggest you make contact with him.

[AGoodman]

Seconded. The assent could be achieved in a day. The selling solicitor (and possibly estate agent) would likely need proof of address/ID from the beneficiaries (as they would now be the selling clients) but this would only take as long as it takes the 4 beneficiaries to send their documents in (one or two may already be clients as executors). I suspect the estate agent just doesn't want to risk anything that makes it harder to get his commission (4 sellers may not agree a price as readily as 1 executor).

A UK solicitor may well accept ID documents certified by a Canadian lawyer. The individual in Spain may be able to get a Spanish lawyer to certify them or, failing that, a notary, or even jump on a plane with the originals.

I don't believe you would need to register the assent prior to the sale - you could simply provide the buyer with the probate and assent for them to register their purchase.

There would be some additional admin as the two non-residents would have to complete a non-resident CGT return within a month but this is done online and not too difficult to do personally.

Remember that CGT would only be payable if the sale price is greater than the probate value.

Andrew Goodman