There’s a lot of information published about the amount of capital gains tax you will need to pay if you sell a chargeable asset. And of course you can sell chargeable assets and the first £10,600 of taxable gains is exempt from a tax charge in the current tax year, 2011-12.
We thought it might be of interest to list items that can be sold with no fear of capital gains tax arising on the sale. Here’s HMRC’s published list and please note that a chattel, referred to in the list, is the personal variety; defined as ‘an item of movable, personal property’. In plain English personal effects or household goods:
- private motor vehicles
- an individual’s only or main residence (having gardens or grounds of half a hectare or less) which has been occupied as such throughout the period of ownership
- tangible moveable property, that is items such as household goods and personal effects, worth less than £6,000
- chattels with a predictable life of 50 years or less (unless used for the purposes of a trade, profession or vocation)
- SAYE (Save-as-you-earn) contracts
- National Savings Certificates
- Premium Bonds
- British Government Securities
- qualifying corporate bonds
- certain investments in Personal Equity Plans, Individual Savings Accounts and under the Business Expansion Scheme
- the receipt of personal injury compensation
- the receipt of winnings from betting, including pool betting, or lotteries or games with prizes.
