No, you haven’t gone mad and neither have I. It’s just that it’s Valentine’s Day (not something I really do, by the way) and so there is a lot of love-themed stuff floating around at the moment. I’m a big believer in love being a verb – something you do, not just feel. Love is best shown by how you treat those around you, whether that’s your lovely husband (Hi Phil!) or your lovely customers – yes, YOU!

 

And because I love you all so much, I would hate you to get caught out by the new rules for selling property, so I’m giving you an advance warning in case it applies to you.

 

From 6 April 2020 any sale of a UK residential property that is not your main home needs to be reported to HMRC and the Capital Gains Tax paid within 30 days of completion. There will be late filing/payment penalties if you fail to do this.

 

It used to be the case that you could add this information to your tax return, potentially over a year after you made the sale (and have long since spent the proceeds) and pay the tax in the January after the end of the tax year, but from 6 April there is a new digital service that must be used. If this applies to you, please get in touch as soon as you know the sale is going ahead so that we have plenty of time to report to HMRC.