When you sell your main home, generally you don’t have to pay capital gains tax (CGT) on any profits you make. But it’s worth knowing the exceptions to the rule, as well as when CGT does apply to property sales. Read on to find out more.<\/p>
Capital gains tax (CGT) is a tax that you pay when you sell certain valuable items for more than you paid for them – in other words, you’ve made a gain on the sale. For example, if you bought a second home several years ago at \u00a3200,000 and sold it for \u00a3300,000, you\u2019d pay a percentage of your \u00a3100,000 profit \u2014 or capital gain \u2014 to the government in CGT.<\/p>
When you make money from selling a house or property, your CGT depends on whether you lived in the house and how long you lived there.<\/p>
Each year, there’s a certain amount of profit you can make in capital gains that’s exempt from tax – more on this allowance below.<\/p>
You may have to pay CGT if you make a profit (gain) when you sell property that\u2019s not the home you live in, for example:<\/p>