Transferring Property on Divorce
Thursday, May 12, 2011 at 9:00AM 
Transferring Property on DivorceQ: I am currently in the process of divorcing my wife and as part of the settlement agreement I am passing one of my rental properties to her. My solicitor has told me I may need to pay tax, but is this true if this is part of my divorce?
Jack, Banbury.
A: Under current legislation when chargeable assets are passed between spouses, they are treated as passing at ‘no loss/no gain’ which means there is no tax to pay. In the year of separation (i.e. the year in which a couple cease living together as husband and wife) the same rule is applied, so no capital gains tax is payable.
From 6th April following separation, however, the inter-spouse rules cease and any assets being gifted between the couple are treated as passing at open market value. This can lead to a capital gains tax liability for the donor. Therefore if you separated from your wife in the current tax year and if the property is transferred into her name before 5th April, no liability will arise. On the other hand, if you separated before 6th April 2011, or if the property is not transferred before 5th April this year, you may have a capital gains tax liability to settle.
If there is a gain chargeable to tax and it occurs between now and 5th April, any tax due will become payable on or before 31st January 2012. On the other hand, if the transfer takes place on or after 6th April this year, any tax due will not become payable until 31st January 2013.
When selling or transferring property, there are many things to take into consideration with regard to the capital gain computation, especially with regard to allowable costs and various reliefs that may be available. You should therefore seek professional advice in connection with this and any other assets being transferred as part of your divorce.
We provide tax accountancy services in Banbury and throughout the UK. http://www.taxassist.co.uk
Reader Comments (2)
Goodadvice but wouldn't these financial and legal matters be a lot easier if we took the time to get the right separation advice in the first place? I have been lucky to receive great info from some top books and also from sites such as http://theparentconnection.org.uk/
Thanks for your comment Emma- couldn't agree more. It's always better to take preventative action; rather than remedial!