Protecting your finances now Labour are in charge

JaneJudge

The average UK house price is 282,000. I imagine average people most probably think 5 million is a massive amount of money. I'm just hazarding a guess here

You cannot get a one bedroom flat for that here.

Merion

^Some people buy, do up and then sell their house on a regular basis and, unless they are deemed to be carrying on a trade, the gain would be tax free.^

That is not legally the case.

S222 CGTA 1992 Relief on disposal of private residence

(1) This section applies to a gain accruing to an individual so far as attributable to the disposal of, or of an interest in—

(a) a dwelling-house or part of a dwelling-house which is, or has at any time in his period of ownership been, his only or main residence …

S223 CGTA 1992

(1) No part of a gain to which section 222 applies shall be a chargeable gain if the dwelling-house or part of a dwelling-house has been the individual’s only or main residence throughout the period of ownership, or throughout the period of ownership except for all or any part of the last 36 months of that period.

But there is also ...

S224 CGTA 1992

(3)Section 223 shall not apply in relation to a gain if the acquisition of, or of the interest in, the dwelling-house or the part of a dwelling-house was made wholly or partly for the purpose of realising a gain from the disposal of it, and shall not apply in relation to a gain so far as attributable to any expenditure which was incurred after the beginning of the period of ownership and was incurred wholly or partly for the purpose of realising a gain from the disposal.

That’s the legislation which should catch those people you describe but in my experience it is rare for HMRC to pursue them - but they could.

I have experience of HMRC investigating someone who made a significant part of their living by buying, refurbishing (to the extent of rebuilding) and selling homes at a considerable profit.. Not a client I hasten to add. They were found to be trading and assessed for income tax accordingly, on top of their income from the day job. Income tax was considerably more painful than CGT.

M0nica

Grannygravy look at it from the other end of the telescope. You live in a country with roads and motorways with bridges and flyovers traffic lights and police controls, we have a well paid police force that, by most international standards are honest, fair and work hard. When ill we have hospitals that treat you for free, we have schools to educate our children and armed forces who are there to defend us, either in and around our own country or by taking on peace keeping duties elsewhere.

None of it is perfect but by all internaational standards we live in a peaceful, free country, able to travel around safely and get help when we need it.

All this needs to be paid for. I, for one, intend to do absolutely nothing to protect my assets earned or unearned, however you define it, because I at one time or another in my life I havwe benefitted from all the services provided by government and I am more than willing to pay my share.

If you are going to do everything you can to avoid paying tax, which public service are you prepared to stop using as you are not making a proper contribution?

MOnica, I worked for the whole of my adult life and have paid a lot of tax. I continue to pay a lot of tax. Why on earth should I pay even more? I must have subsided one hell of a lot of people by now. Enough is enough.

You will pay even more, as we all will if we have enough, as a result of a Labour Government being in power, which you, and all of us, could foresee. That’s life.

Bravo, Monica. Totally agree. My children don’t need a larger inheritance from us at the expense of decent services and infrastructure, and its thanks in no small part to those services that we and they are in the reasonably fortunate (extremely fortunate compared to many) position that we are.

Waiting to find out now whether I’m now a champagne socialist or espousing the politics of envy 😂

Casdon, I have already said that I foresaw it and acted. We will all pay more as regards things such as council tax, fuel duty, vehicle excise duty (wait for those two to push up the cost of living), alcohol and tobacco duty if we drink or smoke. There are however other likely tax increases relating to assets against which one can protect oneself.

Siope if alcohol duty goes up so will the price of your champagne 🍾🥂

I find it normal to wish to protect assets from excess taxation whilst still paying the exorbitant taxes that already exist plus any new taxes added by Labour.

👍🏻

GrannyGravy13

Siope if alcohol duty goes up so will the price of your champagne 🍾🥂

😂😂😂

Good thing I can’t drink like I used to.

Hear hear!

Merion I shouldn't have said gain but profit. And of course, the frequency of selling and buying. So, subject to IT rather than CGT. An adventure in the nature of trade.

I do not think our taxes are exorbitant. In the list of the 30 highest taxed countries the UK is rated at 29th. 23 of the countries rated above us are in Western Europe. The top 3 are Denmark (1), France(2) and Belgium(3) .
wisevoter.com/country-rankings/highest-taxed-countries/

I too have worked most of my life in pofessional job and willingly paid my taxes, and I conintue to do so on my pension and savings.

I am grateful to live in a, generally, peaceful country firmly under the rule of law, where the state provides the infrastructure for me to live my life in comparative peace and wher we have just had a peaceful transfer of power between two opposing parties and I more than willing to pay as much as necessary for that to continue.

Of course the system isn't perfect, What system is? But it seems to work a lot batter than many other countries.

I prefer straightforward upfront taxes, not hidden or sneaky ones.

Other countries seem much better with their taxation systems than the UK. People know exactly where they stand.

I too would prefer my children and grandchildren enjoy better health and social services in the future than inherit monies from me, the former would be my legacy.
I will happily pay as required without fretting about protecting my estate from possible future inroads by the government of the day.

Callistemon213

I prefer straightforward upfront taxes, not hidden or sneaky ones.

Other countries seem much better with their taxation systems than the UK. People know exactly where they stand.

There is very little difference in the way most European countries including the UK raise their money ifs.org.uk/sites/default/files/output_url_files/R160-How-do-other-countries-raise-more-in-tax-than-the-UK-1.pdf

^I too would prefer my children and grandchildren enjoy better health and social services in the future than inherit monies from me, the former would be my legacy.
I will happily pay as required without fretting about protecting my estate from possible future inroads by the government of the day^

Hear, hear JaxJacky.

I have also worked in a professional role for my adult life; I have paid a lot of tax and contributed to an occupational pension, which I now benefit from and on which I pay tax.

If I have to pay more tax, in one way or another, to improve the country’s public services and infrastructure, so be it. The country will be a better place for my grandchildren!

I hear you! I’ve been thinking about shuffling some of our investments too. We’re looking into setting up a trust for the kids and maybe splurging on a new car. It’s definitely a good time to make some moves while we can. Treating ourselves feels like a win in this climate!

Totally!! I.m getting financial advice, cause they are after the “old codgers” as they called us before the election.
Only 3 out of 10 people voted for this horrendous dictatorship you think it’s bad now it’s gonna get worse!!!

Bitcoin is forecast to rise again in August.

I have never understood the desire to own more than one property. I find my one quite enough to keep me busy.
Luckily all my DC are self-sufficient and are not relying on handouts from me.
So I don't mind supporting better public services.

Siope

Bravo, Monica. Totally agree. My children don’t need a larger inheritance from us at the expense of decent services and infrastructure, and its thanks in no small part to those services that we and they are in the reasonably fortunate (extremely fortunate compared to many) position that we are.

Waiting to find out now whether I’m now a champagne socialist or espousing the politics of envy 😂

I agree too. I feel that the provision of good social services, healthcare, education etc., is invaluable. I will not be trying to fence in any assets I have in order not to pay for them.

What about the fact that things like healthcare and education are failing? When run by the state? What is wrong with saving in order to pay for these things privately? Why are people with envy so intent on blacklisting those who have been judicious to cover future expenses? I really cannot understand the mentality.

As for this rubbish about buy to let houses.............. the vitriol about people who own them is beyond belief. Firstly they are doing a service to the community and secondly, it was meant to be a pension income for the landlords. Does nobody think about this?

First, I think there's a lot of Tory and DM/DT scaremongering. Second, I'd be happy to pay more tax and see the very wealthy pay more tax if we could have better public services.

Grantanow

First, I think there's a lot of Tory and DM/DT scaremongering. Second, I'd be happy to pay more tax and see the very wealthy pay more tax if we could have better public services.

I fully concur with the sentiments of this post.

I am also grateful to the younger generations who through there tax and NI payments will finance my state pension through my retirement just as I financed that of my parents and grandparents.

Yes I know most of us continue to pay tax in retirement, and so we should to do out bit. We will all continue to use public services perhaps more so as we age. Quite a number of us will take more out (quite legitimately) as we get older than we put in.