Selling your home can be one of the most stressful periods of anyone's life, but it doesn't have to be that way. 

There is, of course, much more to it than estate agents, valuations, mortgages and removal companies - you also need to have the best accountancy advice in order to navigate the complex world of tax when it comes to selling your house. 

David Howard provides the best tax services Surrey-wide, with our sole aim to ensure you only pay tax where absolutely necessary and are not losing money because of poor advice. Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is something you may qualify to pay when you sell a home, but in most cases, it should not apply to anyone who is selling their one and only property. 

If you own a buy-to-let property or a second property elsewhere in the UK, however, you would have to pay CGT should you come to sell it. We would urge you to speak to a company with experts in tax services in Surrey before you buy a second or third home in order to make sure you understand the potential tax implications both now and in the future. 

At David Howard, we can help you explore how to best limit your liability. 

When you come to sell a second or third property, you may have to pay CGT but, as the name suggests, you are only taxed on the amount you have gained during the time you have owned the property, rather than the total sale price. 

So, to work out what might be owed you would deduct the amount you originally paid for the property from the sale price. You can also then deduct any reasonable costs that you incurred in buying and selling the property, such as stamp duty, broker fees and any improvements you made to the property during the time you owned it. 

There are, however, ways to minimise the amount you may owe the taxman. HRMC allows you to off-set any losses you have made during the sale of other properties you may own. So, losses can be carried forward across a four-year period and help to reduce CGT owed. So, for instance, if you sell a third home, which you made a £100,000 loss on, you could use that loss to cover a gain of £100,000 on your second property - meaning you would not need to pay any CGT in this instance. 

There are different rates of CGT depending on which rate of tax you pay. If you pay the basic rate of tax, you will need to pay 18% on the gains you make when selling that property. If you pay the higher rate of income tax, that figure would rise to 28%. However, it is not quite that straightforward. All taxpayers have an annual allowance of tax-free capital gains. That is £12,000 for single people and £24,000 for couples.

David Howard can advise you on the best way to navigate taxes when you want to sell your house. Get in touch today to find out more.

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