The ATT has published practical guidance on 30-day capital gains tax (CGT) reporting after concerns were raised by members. What do you need to know?

Recap

Individuals, trustees and personal representatives who are due to pay CGT on UK residential property disposals have 30 days after the completion date to report and pay the tax. Disposals must be reported within your client’s Capital Gains Tax on UK Property Account, which they have to set up themselves.

Issues

Clients that are “digitally excluded” or “digitally challenged” have struggled to set up Government Gateway credentials and a property account. With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and some areas in lockdown, the clients that struggle with these tasks can’t always ask family members to help them in person. Some non-UK resident clients haven’t been able to set up the account as the system relies on UK PAYE, UK passport or UK credit reference information to verify their identity. The agent helpline staff have not been equipped to deal with queries from agents.

Solution

The ATT has produced practical guidance for agents, which includes instructions on how to get HMRC to set up an account where the HMRC agent is satisfied that the client is digitally excluded. If you have clients that fall into this category, they need to call HMRC to either grant you access to their online property account or request a paper return. Other clients will be considered digitally challenged by HMRC and its view is that this group should, with support, be able to complete the steps online. These clients will not therefore be eligible for a paper return, but they should be able to access support from HMRC. HMRC should be contacted as soon as possible in advance of a sale to give you time to meet the 30-day deadline for affected clients.

Anything else to be aware of? The struggle isn’t over once the account has been created for the first time, because any amendments to an existing return or completion of any further CGT returns for the tax year cannot currently be submitted online. This is despite HMRC’s insistence that most clients do not have the option of a paper return for the first disposal. It will be necessary to contact HMRC for each subsequent disposal to request a paper return; paper returns cannot be copied and used again. We understand that HMRC will extend the 30-day deadline to allow for clients to receive the paper return, but it makes sense to document all communication with HMRC in case penalties are issued.

The ATT has passed its members’ concerns onto HMRC, and further guidance has been issued to HMRC helpline staff. The ATT is continuing to work with HMRC to improve the guidance and would welcome any further comments on the current system.

The ATT’s guidance on using the UK Property Reporting Service can be found here

This article has been reproduced by kind permission of Indicator – FL Memo Ltd. For details of their tax-saving products please visit www.indicator-flm.co.uk or call 01233 653500.