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New CGT Rules To Impact Overseas Investors - 23 July 2010

Recent changes to the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) rules may affect future buyers of overseas property.

According to new measures announced in the Emergency Budget, Britons selling their homes for profit are liable to be taxed. This extends to properties that aren’t in the U.K. and is regardless of the local tax rate imposed in the property’s country.

In order to be exempt from the additional costs associated with CGT, British holiday homeowners need to spend less than 91 days in the U.K. each year over a five-year period. Otherwise, they are classified as “ordinary residents” and will likely be subjected to taxes.

In more pleasant news, Britons who bought homes in Spain between 1997 to 2006 are eligible to receive a CGT refund, as the Spanish government illegally taxed British buyers twice as much as they did resident property buyers.

The court ruled against this prejudice in taxation—Britons paid 35 percent in CGT, whereas the Spanish paid 15 percent—back in 2009, but the deadline for these claims to be settled is October 31. With August observed as a national holiday and the settling process taking up to three months, those eligible should file soon.

So far, British homeowners have each received about £14,980 from the Spanish Tax Office, according to reports. The Spanish government made an estimated £350 million from taxing the British over the ten-year period.

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