My wifes house is currently rented and she is planning to sell hers very soon.
She bought it for 130k and it worth approx 300k now.
When did she buy it?
Was she an owner occupier?
For how long?
For how long has it been rented?
Did she pay any stamp duty on it?
If she bought the property as an owner occupier and rented it out within 5 years of purchase then a clawback of stamp duty would apply - i.e. she would be liable for the different between the
SD an investor would have paid and what she actually paid (if anything) as soon as the first rental occurred. It's possible that the property was exempt for both investors and owner occupiers though given the purchase price but you'd need to double check.
In terms of
CGT the basic rule is that
CGT on some portion related to how long it was rented out versus a
PPR is assessable for
CGT. For example if she owned it for 7 years (x), lived in it for 4 years (y) (in which case the SD clawback rule applies), rented it out for 3 years (z) and then sold it then:
(z - 1) / x = (3 - 1) / 7 = 29% of any gain arising (less allowable expenses, allowances, indexation etc.) would be subject to
CGT.
I am calculating this in whole years for simplicity but more precision could be achieved using months or days - ask you tax advisor or
Revenue. Note that the first 12 months after vacating the property as a
PPR are exempt from
CGT.
I am just wondering what is the possible tax implications or what the best financial move is if she does either of the following. Is there any way of avoiding CGT in any scenario?
1. Sell her house and use the proceeds to clear my mortgage on my house which I bought 4 years ago.
2. Sell her house and re invest the money gained from the sale in another larger house in which we could both move into and rent out my house.
Neither of these scenarios have any relevant to
CGT and if CGT applies these uses of the money will not emiminate or mitigate any liability.