If you sell an asset – such as a property, a business or shares – or transfer (even as a gift) such assets into someone else’s name, into a trust or into a company, this disposal may trigger a capital gains tax charge.
Capital Gains Tax is set at 20% of the gain in the asset (28% on property), subject to your available allowances and reliefs. The bill can be high if you have owned the asset for a long time and it has appreciated in value or if you built up business from scratch.
After a person passes away, assets sold during the administration of the estate could be exposed to capital gains tax where there has been an increase in value.
Using HMRC approved strategies it is possible to defer your liability almost perpetually. In some cases, it is possible to mitigate against your liability completely, particularly when selling a business.
In cases where we are looking to help you realise a tax saving immediately, we seek to share the risks and rewards of planning with you; we will charge a fee for our advice but then charge a percentage of the tax we succeed in saving for you.