CGT and changed PPR UK /Ireland

Hi all,

I'm trying to figure out if I can or should change an old ppr and now pay CGT tax in the UK late for a previous sale.

I sold a shared house bought in 2002 in london in 2006 with an approximate personal gain of £40K. I never made any tax return on this sale and I never claimed mortgage relief on this property either.

I lived in the house in London for 2 years and for the final 2 years lived in Ireland.

I recently with my siblings sold an inherited house in Ireland in January 2008 and have now to file my CGT return for this. (Already late)

I would like to claim full PPR for the property in Ireland as I think the CGT charges will be more.

So can anyone help and tell me -

Can I now pay my UK CGT in full for the four years gain?
What would it be with indexing (bought 290K in 2002, sold 270K in 2006 )/ and fines on the 40K gain?.

Thank you!

The sheer audacity !

You can't pick and choose which laws to comply with! PPR is a question of fact.

You have UK and Irish CGT liabilities, each to be dealt with separately. You also don't provide enough details re the Irish property - were you living there etc.

I don’t mean to be audacious at all just see if it is possible.
If someone owns two properties, can you choose which one is the PPR?
I know you can't claim ppr in both uk and ireland for the same time.
The property in Ireland was inherited in 1997 and would be considered my PPR while renting abroad.
My query is can it my PPR for the two years living in the UK property and hence I would pay the CGT in the UK.

Many thanks for looking at my query anyhow.

If you never lived in the house during the ownership period it cannot be your PPR.


If you did you can claim the relief for the occupation period and the last 12 months of ownership.

In that situation the working abroad period could count but only if you lived there before and after the foreign periods.

Otherwise as stated above it would not bew a principal private residence.

Yes, I always lived in the Irish property when in Ireland, and returned there after being abroad and have bills in my name. It was never rented in my absence either.

I will probably seek professional advice to see if I can categorise the London property as a second (investment) property and pay CGT on it and have PPR on the irish property.

Thank you both for your help.

I think you would be able to claim simultaneous PPRs in each jurusdiction, providing you were occupying both, and automatically extended into the post-occupation exemption period. However, the tax inspector might demand justification if you were not registered as a taxpayer in the relevant jurisdiction. However, under the double taxation treaty a person could seem to be qualified by mere residence to be tax-resident in both simultaneously, in which case 'tax residence' is decided by which jurisdiction is dominant in your affairs. So you could have a PPR in both countries although tax-resident in only one. I do not think either the UK or Irish tax authorities will query your UK PPR. Your problem will be to convince the Irish authorities that you had a PPR in Ireland, although never a tax payer.