What expenses can I claim when I sell a property?

You can claim the capital expenses you have incurred during the ownership of the property.

The capital gains computation would look like:

Proceeds                                                                                                                             X

Less

Incidental costs on sale:

Estate agent fees                                                                              X

Solicitors fees                                                                                    X

Purchase price (enter under purchase tab)                                     X

Incidental costs on acquisition:

Stamp Duty                                                                                        X

Legal Fees                                                                                           X

Building survey charges                                                                    X

Independent inspection charges                                                      X

Auctioneers costs (if you bought via auctions)                               X

Improvement costs during ownership:

Extensions                                                                                          X

Improving kitchen                                                                              X
 

Total costs                                                                                                                          (X)
 

Gain                                                                                                                                      X

Your solicitors’ completion statement should contain most of the costs, so keep it safe as you will need it to satisfy HMRC record keeping requirements.

Can I claim the costs of a deal if it falls through?

Unfortunately, any costs and expenses associated with a deal that falls through are never allowable.

So if you are thinking of buying a property and spend money instructing solicitors and arranging surveys and then decide not to proceed or worse still the seller pulls out, there is no tax relief for the costs.

Instructions on how to enter the sale of a property (and any associated costs) into the software can be found below:

1. Click '+ NEW PAGE' then select 'Capital Gains (SA108)'

2. Fill in the entries applicable to you and then click 'SAVE'. You can edit this later if you'd like to.

3. Click on '+ GAIN'

4. Select 'Residential Property (and carried interest)' from the drop-down list of categories

5. This is the 'SALE' tab where you'd fill in any applicable entries associated with the sale of the property. The highlighted area below is where you can fill in the date in which you sold your property and the amount you sold it for.

6. Here you'd enter any costs incurred on the sale of the property

7. This is the 'PURCHASE' tab where you'd fill in any applicable entries associated with the purchase of the property. The orange highlighted box below is where you'd enter the date in which you acquired the property and the cost of it.

8. The blue highlighted box below is where you'd enter any incidental costs of acquisition.

9. Here you'd enter any improvement costs you've made during your time of ownership

10. This is the 'RELIEFS' tab where you can select any Capital Gains Tax reliefs that apply to you.

11. This is the 'CALCULATION' tab where you can see how your entries have been processed.

12. Click 'SAVE'