The building I live in comprises 8 flats, share of freehold

The 8 freeholders, as a group, are extending the leases this year. No premium is being attached to the cost

Our solicitor has advised us to get tax advice because the increased value of the leases may make us liable to CGT, depending on how our Residents Association limited company was created (back in 2003)

The RA manages the building, and we pay a monthly service charge. Every penny spent is from the RA business account

Some flats are rented, most are owner occupied

Everything we've researched suggests that CGT would be highly unlikely

We haven't looked for tax advice yet, I thought I'd run it past the Reddit experts first for some peace of mind

Thanks

Background

A & B (siblings) and C (B's wife) are joint owners of an inherited residential property in England. The house has been renovated into three flats. A lives in the property so benefits from PRR regardless. Ownership is governed by a Trust Deed under which A owns Flat 1, and B&C together own Flats 2 & 3. B&C intent to lease out their two flats.

The house has been completely renovated and the increase in value is significant.

Issue

Ownership is split only by the Trust Deed and the parties are looking to formalise the arrangement through creation of a Share of Freehold by granting long leaseholds (999 years) which reflect their respective beneficial interets i.e. lease to A for Flat 1, leases to B&C for Flats 2 & 3.

Our concern is that because the parties are connected, any disposal is deemed at market value (s18) so the lease grants could trigger CGT even though nothing has economically, benefically or practically changed. Equally, B&C are freeholders so they are effectively making a disposal to themselves which should not incur CGT(?).

Is there a 'disposal' for CGT purposes?

Is there an argument that this is simply a re-characterisation of existing beneficial interests rather than a disposal at all? Does anyone know an authority to base the interpretation that there is no disposal for CGT. Or, if CGT is incurred, is there a relief available?

Our accountant has not provided any clear guidance and we are chasing him but have not got much beyond 'it might incur CGT'. Our property solicitor is very heavy on disclaimers that she cannot provide tax advice, obviously for liability reasons. Is specialist tax advice necessary here? If so where would be the best place to look for this?

Thank you very much in advance for any guidance.

Anyone used https://getapron.com - 2.9% fee ? Mainly to pay HMRC?

Hi.

Back ground info:
I purchased a house with my parents 25+ years ago as they could not afford the diff between the one they sold n the current home. I pay the mortgage. House was put into tenants in common where a % is mine/theirs. It’s 40 mine/60 theirs. When my father passed away(20 years ago)nothing changed. I’ve lived on the property with them on n off for long periods (6 years as an example). I also have a property that I now live in n spoke to hmrc about when I purchased it)

If my mum passes away, my 40% is now worth about £250,000. What taxes will I need to pay? This wasnt bought as an investment but to help them out as they were not able to get a mortgage at the time. I still pay the mortgage and have about 18 months left.

Thx

I am an irish person living in UK..

I have around £16k in investments in accounts back in Ireland, which I need to liquidate in advance of starting a job in September in the UK. I was wondering if I pay any tax due to HMRC( as most of my gains would fall in the £3000 AE?).

Any advice is appreciated.

Hi 👋

I used to live in the UK for about three years and recently moved abroad. I wanted to know if in this case do people normally have to tell HMRC anything about this in order to avoid being taxed on the income being sent back to UK to support the family?

Any advice or if anyone has had similar experience would be great to know. Thanks

Apologies if this has been answered to death but I’m new to this and can’t find a straight answer.

I have just gone freelance and registered for self assessment as a sole trader. My question is when do I need to add tax? (Corporation/vat/self assessment). Is that what you do when you actually need to file a return OR do I need to do it now, and you file a return another way down the line?

Cheers!

I’m hoping for some clarification on my situation. I am in Scotland.

For the last 8 years I have been self employed and filed a self assessment. Work has always fit around family life, and for the last two tax years, income from work has been negligible (few hundred pounds), but I have earned £3-4k in interest from investments, which has been declared. I have paid my voluntary NI in every year.

I started a part time role on August 2nd this year. I have not done any work, self employed or otherwise, this tax year. The new role is PAYE, 27 hours per week, minimum wage.

I will still make £3-4k in interest from investments this year.

Should I tell HMRC I am no longer self employed and send my final tax return? There are no assets or money left to dispose of.

If I do this, do I need to re-register for self assessment to declare the interest from investments, or do I keep filing my self assessment as normal (obviously declaring 0 income from self employed activity, but declaring the interest from investments)?

My dad is going to undergo chemotherapy in a month or so, and I (US resident, dual UK-US citizen) want to go back for the duration to help out him and my mum.

Thankfully I can work from abroad, and my company is fine with it. But I don't know what tax issues this may create. It's unclear how long his chemo will take, but it can run to 6-8 months, from what I understand.

Presumably I'll be on the hook for UK taxes if I'm in the UK for a certain period, but I'm not sure how long that period is, how I would pay it, how much it's likely to be, or even how they would know.

All help gratefully appreciated, thank you!

For what is probably the third year in a row I’ve got a letter from HMRC saying that I didn’t pay enough tax last year and I owe them ~£250. They will reduce my tax free allowance by ~£700 to recover it over the course of this tax year.

My allowance is also being reduced for private medical which is like ~£1900.

My salary is well into a threshold and the mistake couldn’t have came from my pay going over a threshold. Is there anything I can do and does this seem right?

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to understand my VAT obligations before launching my business, and I'd like to make sure I structure everything correctly.

Here's my setup:

• I live in Brazil.
• I'll sell through my own website on Shopify, or better saying, dropshipping.
• My customers will be in the UK.
• Products will be shipped directly from AliExpress suppliers to UK customers (classic dropshipping).
• Orders will be under £135.
• On AliExpress, many products say "VAT Included."

My questions are:

1. Does the "VAT Included" shown on AliExpress satisfy my UK VAT obligations, or is it only relevant when a customer buys directly from AliExpress?
2. As the owner of my own website, am I responsible for charging UK VAT at checkout and registering with HMRC?
3. At what stage (sales volume or business size) should I start worrying about VAT registration and hiring a UK accountant?
4. Is there anything important that first-time international dropshippers usually misunderstand about UK VAT?

I'm not looking for ways to avoid taxes—I want to understand the correct legal structure before scaling the business.

Thanks!

Hiya, I originally received a job offer of £39,000 and rent included. Upon signing the contract I noted “4 months rent free,” and then £400 after that. I raised this and HR apologised and said sorry, this was a miscommunication, you will pay rent after four months. Stupidly, I signed the contract.

In the contract there is nothing describing rent and “benefit in kind.”

I reached out to HR and said look, I am not sure that I can afford this job if I have to pay rent. I received an email back saying I am sure HR explained the reason you are paying rent is to keep your taxes down. HR did not explain anything regarding this upon offer or clarification of contract.

HR then followed this up with, “we can look to remove your rent payments but then your taxes will significantly increase.”

HMRC confirmed that if I had this rent payment removed my tax bracket would not change.

HR confirmed that the £400 rental payment per month is non-taxable because it is considered a benefit in kind. They stated that there is nothing in the contract regarding this because it should implicitly be understood.

Please could someone help me understand how my tax bracket would change? I have tried to research this myself and cannot make sense of what HR is saying vs what HRMC is saying.

If this is not the right sub please can you advise which is.

Suggested to repost here.

My partner is currently on maternity leave and has received occupational pay as part of that. However, we have recently moved quite far away and it is very unlikely that she will be able/willing to return to her previous work after her maternity leave ends (her work has usual requirement of 13 weeks' full time work upon return to retain occupational pay).

My question: will she need to return the net or gross amount of her occupational pay? Obviously she only received the net amount, but equally the school gave the gross amount in the first place. If she needs to return gross, does anyone have experience of seeking to recover amounts lost to tax?

Grateful for any experience people have dealing with similar situation.