I have a client who has inherited a piece of land that was valued at probate at £30,000. They have looked into the possibility of getting planning and it's quite promising. This would increase the value of this land to around £150,000
If my client was to gift the land to his spouse post planning permission would the wife then have a base cost of £150,000 for subsequent sale? I'm guessing we'd need to wait a year or so after the gift before the sale to avoid any suspicions?
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That's right. CGT only applies to unmarried people. Married couples can make any gain disappear by transferring the asset between themselves prior to disposal.
Transfers of assets between H&W are treated as having taken place at a value that would give rise to neither a gain nor a loss.
Thus in your example, simplistically, if your client was to gift the land to his spouse post planning permission, the base cost and deemed disposal value for your client, would be £30,000, giving a base cost for the spouse of £30,000.
See https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/gifts
I'm glad someone did that.
OP: what jcace said. Transfer to spouse is not exempt, it's at no gain or loss. It would be ridiculous otherwise... as I intended to show with my previous remark.
…that the conditions in s58 (as defined by ITA s1011, invoked for TCGA by s288 thereof) apply. (Or just read jcace's citation.)
That was almost my first post, believe it or not, but flippancy prevailed. I was in that mood.