Residential Property held by a Company

There are government proposals in the pipeline for charging 15% SDLT on residential properties valued at £2m or more where the property is  owned by a company.

In addition an annual charge starting at £15,000 per annum is proposed. This is proposed to come into effect in April 2013. There are, fortunately exemptions for property development companies.

It seems best to keep expensive investment properties outside companies if possible. The difficulty is how to remove such properties that have been held in companies for some years without having to pay capital gains tax.

Written by Philip Woolfson

Philip is a Senior Partner of  Tuchbands, a dynamic firm of North London accountants based in Golders Green. Philip has handled accounts and taxation for a wide range of industries, from property investment through to the fashion industry and in his 35 years has helped hundreds of businesses to thrive in both rising and falling markets.