Capital gains tax rollover relief

We are long term fiscal residents in Spain. We are beginning to plan our move back to the UK, and this will involve selling our house here - our main residence. My husband is 62 years old and I am 60. I have read on several web sites that we can roll over any capital gain on our house here, to a house in the UK. Is this correct? Our accountant and lawyer do not seem to be able to confirm this. We have twice rolled over gain into a new house here in the past - will this have any bearing on our capital gains liability when we eventually leave Spain?

Linda McKellar

Hello Linda

The fact that you are moving back to the UK should not bar you from taking advantage of this exemption. Spanish Law is silent on this regard and does not, prima facie, place any restrictions on where the new property is to be purchased, although some interpretations of different laws do point in the direction that this is not possible. However, recent Jurisprudence interprets the legislation in your favour establishing that the location of the new property does not necessarily need to be within Spanish territory.

If you can read Spanish, below you can find links to several binding enquiries made to the Tax Office regarding this matter:

• Capital gains tax exemption when relocating to the US
  
• Capital gains tax exemption when relocating to the UK
  
• Capital gains tax exemption when relocating to France
• Capital gains tax exemption when relocating to Andorra
  

Please feel free to pass this information on to your lawyer so that this exemption is applied properly.

Kind regards

Thank you very much for the information. It was most helpful.

Is this roll over only for people over 60 ? or can any long time resedent of Spain sell their house and roll over the profits into a new home in the UK ?
Thank you

You don't have to be over 60. We have rolled over our capital gain into houses (in Spain) on two previous occasions, and we were both under 60 years of age.

Linda is right, you don't have to be of certain age to roll over your Capital Gains Tax if you reinvest on a new property. Please note that 65 would be the age for complete CGT exemption (no need to reinvest) for those who hold Spanish residency.

Is it still the case, 25/10/2012, that over 65 years old residents are exempt from capital gains tax on their main residence?
And is it also still the case that reinvestment in a new residence can be in another country, eg the UK?
regards
Spencer Lewis

If you are resident and entitled to rollover relief on your property sale, what other items, if any can be included in the cost of the new property. E.g if you do not use all of the proceeds of sale to buy your next house but you wish to spend money on say, fixing the roof, is the cost allowable
E.g. sale proceeds net of costs 190k
Cost of new property incl purchase costs 160k
Can the balance I.e 30k be used for renovation?