Euro vs Pound – Brexit Impact

From April 6th this year, individuals who do not spend sufficient time in the UK, or have insufficient ties with the UK to be resident there for tax purposes but who nonetheless own a home in the UK, may now need to pay capital gains tax (CGT) on any gains arising on the eventual sale of the property. 

How will the tax work?

Only gains made from 6th April 2015 are taxable in calculating the gain on the property disposal i.e. non-UK resident property owners will substitute the value of the property as at 6th April 2015 for its actual acquisition cost, thereby rebasing the value to its market value as at that date. Alternatively, property owners may elect to calculate the gain by using the actual acquisition cost but paying tax only on the time-apportioned post-5th April 2015 part of the gain.

If the non-resident usually files a UK self assessment tax return any gain must be included in the appropriate year’s return, otherwise any tax must be paid within 30 days of completion.  Non-residents will continue to be exempt from CGT on disposals of commercial property and other assets.

What should you do if you are an expat and are considering a retirement transfer? Mindful of Brexit’s impending reality, do you make an expat retirement transfer as soon as possible or, fearful of restricting yourself and missing out on any possible opportunity, do you hang on to see what the future holds and wait until after March 31 2019.

There could be risk in waiting, of course, and it is considerable risk. By hesitating now you risk losing the opportunity to take advantage of all the EU expat retirement transfer benefits currently offered to those who choose Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) or Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pensions (QROPS) right now.

This is not to say that these advantages will instantly disappear come spring 2019, but the reality is that Brexit is turning out to be drawn-out process with little current certainty and that it will take some time for any agreed changes to take effect.