Private Residence Relief and deemed occupation

If you sell a property that was your main residence at some point during your ownership, you may be eligible for private residence relief (PRR) which can reduce or eliminate your capital gains tax liability. However, there may be periods when you were not living in the property, such as when you moved out before selling it, or when you let it out to tenants. In this blog post, we will explain how you can claim PRR for periods of non-occupation and what conditions you need to meet.

The basic rule is that you can claim PRR for the period of your actual occupation, plus the last 9 months of ownership, regardless of whether you were living there or not. This is to allow for some flexibility in case you have difficulties selling your property or buying a new one. However, there are additional reliefs that can extend the PRR period beyond the 9 months. Previously that period of 9 months was 36 months. You could also claim letting relief if you had rented the property during a certain period. Those benefits have been curtailed now but you still can claim relief in some cases where you did not occupy the property. It's called deemed occupation and here are the different scenarii where it's available. 

Final period of ownership

That's the one we just talked about and it is the most common scenario where relief is available despite not being in occupation of a property. Since April 2020 the final period is nine months and those are always available if you have lived in the property as some point (to exclude the buy-to-let properties where no such relief is available). The intention of the exemption is to aid sellers who are having difficulties finding a buyer. This is regardless of having difficulties finding a buyer or the use of the property during that period. 

Delayed occupation

Another scenario where a period of non-occupation will be treated as a period of occupation is where there is a delay in taking up residence of a dwelling. The following conditions must be satisfied:

• occupation of the property happens within two years of purchase;
• the property was not another person’s residence during the period of non-occupation; and
• a qualifying event happens during that period of non-occupation. A qualifying event can be a delay due to the completion of construction, renovation, redecoration of the property, or because the individual can't move in until he disposes of his previous residence.

Business owner? Don't forget tax credits!

Tax credits are something that most accountants don't like to deal with. They are often considered as social benefits and therefore something that is outside of the scope of their offering. It is difficult however to advise properly on the tax affairs of an individual or a company without taking child and working tax credits into account. Indeed, many decisions you can take as a business owner will have consequences on eventual tax credits and your bottom line.

It is often assumed that tax credits are only available to the unemployed or the very low earners. What people forget is that there are some instances where your earnings can be very low for a limited period (say you start a new business or you incur exceptional capital expenses). In that case there is no reason not to claim this extra government money. Especially since, because tax credits are based on income and not capital, it is possible to be in a situation where you have significant capital gains, inheritance income or just savings and where you are still entitled to those subsidies.

Top tax saving tips for the self-employed

The most frequent question I get when I meet clients starting their new business is how to reduce their taxes. Obviously this is a loaded question and most of the work we do is geared towards insuring that our clients pay their fair share but not more! There are hundreds of ways you can reduce your tax liability but if you can do just 5 things, here they are:

1. Incorporate

When you start your own business, you have basically 2 options: run your business as a sole trader (or a partnership) or setup a limited company. The sole trader option can seem quite attractive since it's quite simple to administer. However, using a limited company can bring significant tax savings since companies are not subject to National Insurance. As a matter of fact, for a company with annual profits of £80,000 the overall tax savings can be as much as £5,000 per year.

The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme

This new tax advantaged form of venture capital scheme was announced at the Autumn Statement 2011; it will be focused on smaller, start up companies and will provide a form of relief similar to the EIS Scheme. This scheme will make tax relief available to investors who subscribe for shares and have less than a 30% stake in the company.

The main points to note are as follows:

• The type of company this applies to is one that has less than 25 employees with assets of up to £200,000 who are preparing to carry on new business

Getting grants in the UK

The UK government has set aside more than two billion pounds in funding programmes (grants and loans) for financing small businesses. Free government grants are available to help you start-up, expand or improve your business, if you are eligible. Unfortunately finding the right grant can be extremely tedious as there is no official repository of all available grants and reliefs available. They are many kinds of financial aids available:

Grants and Subsidies
When you receive this money, you don't have to pay it back. It's yours to use under the terms of the grant. The national and regional governments know that it's tough for small businesses to bring new products to market, make your company more efficient, or hire employees. So they provide billions of pounds a year to aid UK product innovation and grow small businesses.

The national and regional governments also recognise that some regions and business sectors need more economic development support than others. Businesses across the country are eligible for some of the billions of pounds in funding allotted for this development. Small businesses accessing grant programmes enjoy a bonus benefit: once you've successfully received funding, you're more likely to get additional grants from the same agency because you meet their program requirements.