Capital gains tax rollover relief

[Linda McKellar]

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

[aflores]

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

[Linda McKellar]

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

[Unregistered]

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

[Linda McKellar]

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.

[ifv]

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.