How to calculate CGT of foreign property sale?

Property bought in Euro, for HMRC I need to provide calculations in GBP.

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Good morning,
In 2010 I bought a property abroad and paid for it in Euro as I was living abroad back then. Now I am a tax resident and domiciled in the UK and decided to sell my foreign property.
My question is about how I calculate CGT in terms of currency exchange - does the cost fo purchase should be converted from EURO to GBP based on the rate of exchange on the day of purchase in 2010 or I use the rate of exchange (EURO/GBP) on the date of sale in 2018?

Thanks in advance.

Replies (15)

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paddle steamer
By DJKL
19th Oct 2018 11:09

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/capital-gains-manual/cg78310

Convert to Sterling at date of purchase, convert to Sterling at date of sale, use Sterling at each date to compute gain.

Thanks (2)
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By Montrose
19th Oct 2018 15:20

Just a couple of points
1] If the property was your main home, you can claim PPR relief, which is not restricted to UK situs property.

2] If the property was not your main home but was residential property the rate of CGT is 28%, not 20%

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By Justin Bryant
25th Jun 2019 18:05

I just came across this post (which comes high up on Google searches for some reason). Relevant issues re the potential residential/non-residential question (28% vs. 20% CGT) are in the link below.

https://www.taxation.co.uk/articles/2017-05-02-336351-cgt-property-dispo...

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Replying to Justin Bryant:
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By Lindaandpat
13th Oct 2019 15:29

I have a similar problem. We lived in our home in Spain since 2003 and have been Spanish tax residents since 2011. Had to move back to UK in tax year 2018-2019 because mother had Alzheimers and we looked after her. We are living in her UK home. We filled in a UK tax return for that year. Last week therefore in new tax year 2019-2020 we sold our Spanish home and as we were deemed non resident in Spain we had to leave behind 3% non residents tax. Will we have to pay CGTax in UK on our old home as we are now UK residents but do not own a property in UK yet.

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By Lindaandpat
13th Oct 2019 15:28

I have a similar problem. We lived in our home in Spain since 2003 and have been Spanish tax residents since 2011. Had to move back to UK in tax year 2018-2019 because mother had Alzheimers and we looked after her. We are living in her UK home although she is now in a Care Home. We filled in a UK tax return for 2018-2019 tax year. Last week therefore in new tax year 2019-2020 we sold our Spanish home and as we were deemed non resident in Spain we had to leave behind 3% non residents tax. Will we have to pay CGTax in UK on our old home as we are now UK residents but do not own a property in UK yet.

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Replying to Lindaandpat:
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By Tax Dragon
13th Oct 2019 21:40

Lindaandpat wrote:

We lived in our home in Spain since 2003 and have been Spanish tax residents since 2011.

How does that work?

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By Lindaandpat
13th Oct 2019 15:28

I have a similar problem. We lived in our home in Spain since 2003 and have been Spanish tax residents since 2011. Had to move back to UK in tax year 2018-2019 because mother had Alzheimers and we looked after her. We are living in her UK home although she is now in a Care Home. We filled in a UK tax return for 2018-2019 tax year. Last week therefore in new tax year 2019-2020 we sold our Spanish home and as we were deemed non resident in Spain we had to leave behind 3% non residents tax. Will we have to pay CGTax in UK on our old home as we are now UK residents but do not own a property in UK yet.

Thanks (0)
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By Lindaandpat
13th Oct 2019 15:28

I have a similar problem. We lived in our home in Spain since 2003 and have been Spanish tax residents since 2011. Had to move back to UK in tax year 2018-2019 because mother had Alzheimers and we looked after her. We are living in her UK home although she is now in a Care Home. We filled in a UK tax return for 2018-2019 tax year. Last week therefore in new tax year 2019-2020 we sold our Spanish home and as we were deemed non resident in Spain we had to leave behind 3% non residents tax. Will we have to pay CGTax in UK on our old home as we are now UK residents but do not own a property in UK yet.

Thanks (0)
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By Lindaandpat
13th Oct 2019 15:28

I have a similar problem. We lived in our home in Spain since 2003 and have been Spanish tax residents since 2011. Had to move back to UK in tax year 2018-2019 because mother had Alzheimers and we looked after her. We are living in her UK home although she is now in a Care Home. We filled in a UK tax return for 2018-2019 tax year. Last week therefore in new tax year 2019-2020 we sold our Spanish home and as we were deemed non resident in Spain we had to leave behind 3% non residents tax. Will we have to pay CGTax in UK on our old home as we are now UK residents but do not own a property in UK yet.

Thanks (0)
Replying to Lindaandpat:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
13th Oct 2019 16:34

Was the house in Spain your PPR from 2003 or from 2011 or has it never been your PPR?

In effect if it has been your PPR you apportion the gain between periods it was your PPR and periods it was not. (Calculate total gain and time apportion)

The period from returning from Spain to sale may be okay as last 18 months gets deemed your PPR if previously wasyour PPR, so depending on precise date you returned from Spain in 2018/2019 and precise date of sale in 2019/2020 I strongly suspect this period will be okay as deemed PPR.

If not your PPR from purchase to say 2011, did you let the property to others in that period?

No idea re CGT reporting in Spain but re UK getting a UK accountant to look things over before submission/check (do) all calculations would likely be a good idea.

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Replying to DJKL:
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By Lindaandpat
14th Oct 2019 10:37

Thank you for your reply which was very helpful. I did not realise PRR was applied to Spanish homes. We lived in the property permanently from 2005 to 2011. Rented it out for holiday rents from 2011 to 2016 for summers but lived there in winter and from 2017 onwards until leaving for UK in July 2018 we lived there permanently again. We also had been back for several months between July 2018 and selling the property last week. I will do the calculation as you suggest and then have it checked out. Thanks again.

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Replying to Lindaandpat:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
14th Oct 2019 10:57

But was there another house used to live in, PPR is not merely only house owned.

Re the letting also take a look at letting relief:

https://www.gov.uk/tax-sell-home/let-out-part-of-home

I really advise instructing an accountant with this, not knowing what you are doing could be very expensive and the accountant's fee ought not to be too expensive.

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Replying to DJKL:
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By Lindaandpat
14th Oct 2019 11:17

Thanks once again. I have read the link article which is very relevant to me. Looks like I will need an accountant. Whilst the house was let out we lived in another property we owned in Spain which was nominated as our main home for the years we lived there and it was sold in 2017 when we moved back to this property which was just sold. So basically we lived in the property just sold full time from 2005 to 2011 and 2017 to 2018 and it was sold 2019. We bought it in 2003 but were still in UK selling our UK home and also the Spanish property was having renovating work done. We moved there when UK property sold.

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Replying to Lindaandpat:
paddle steamer
By DJKL
14th Oct 2019 11:38

Without a doubt one for an accountant.

Thanks (0)
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By Lindaandpat
13th Oct 2019 15:29

I have a similar problem. We lived in our home in Spain since 2003 and have been Spanish tax residents since 2011. Had to move back to UK in tax year 2018-2019 because mother had Alzheimers and we looked after her. We are living in her UK home although she is now in a Care Home. We filled in a UK tax return for 2018-2019 tax year. Last week therefore in new tax year 2019-2020 we sold our Spanish home and as we were deemed non resident in Spain we had to leave behind 3% non residents tax. Will we have to pay CGTax in UK on our old home as we are now UK residents but do not own a property in UK yet.

Thanks (0)