If you’ve bought a buy-to-let property in the last few years and are considering selling now, do your sums before you call your agent, says Harriet Meyer in The Daily Telegraph. Why? It’s all about changes to the capital gains tax (CGT) regime.
Currently, you pay 40% on the gains on a property you have owned for less than three years – and even with taper relief, the lowest your bill can be after ten years is 24%. Yet if you wait until April, you’ll pay only 18%, regardless of how long you’ve owned the thing for.
So should you wait? We wonder. You only pay tax once you’ve made gains and with prices already falling and advisers telling everyone to wait until April, you might want to pre-empt the rush, sell now and give yourself a chance of actually making some gains.