Can we avoid CGT when selling a property in the uk - Page 2

KevS wrote on Thu Jul 27, 2023 5:01pm:

If you are already there, this may not be relevant to you and I have no idea how to get around it.  For anyone moving there doing 90/180 with a property to sell, it probably is. 

The advice I have been given is this.  

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The Spanish tax year runs from Jan1st to Dec 31st which makes this explanation a little easier.

If you sell a UK property and become Tax Resident by virtue of spending 183 days in Spain in the same tax / calendar year (nothing to do with your 5 year Visa / Spanish residency application), then you are liable for CGT on that sale.  

So lets say you sold your property in Jan 2024 and became Tax Resident in Spain in December 2024, even though you sold it long before your tax liabilities were established in Spain, it is the same tax year and they will fleece you.  

Conversely, if you sold your property in late Dec 2023 and became Tax Resident in early Jan 2024, you wouldn't be liable for CGT even though you became tax resident only a few days later.  We have this timing issue with my brother's planned move and are aiming for him to sell in late 2023 so he can move straight to Spain soon as he sells (well, any time there is less than 183 days left in the year, so say 4th July 2023).

Remember the 183 days would include any holidays or working periods anywhere in Spanish territories.  So if you do 10 days boogying in Majorca, you have 173 days left in the tax year to be at your Spanish villa.