Last month you titled one of your shorter pieces ‘a painful gift’.
I fear I might be in a similar situation.
My mum gave me half her house ten years ago, and I moved in with my partner some eight years ago. My mum died at Christmas, I fear my mother’s gift might have been another expensive one of your experience – more in hope than expectation, is there a way round it?
Based on the limited information at hand, I can with the utmost regret surmise you’re correct in the totality of your liability. As Juliet’s words from four centuries past illustrate the point, a rose by any name be headily perfumed. Your liability to taxation is stiff, although the name of the tax is different. The case to which you refer was one in which the parent gave half their house to their child—the tax due in that unfortunate matter was inheritance tax. In this case the tax to which your family is subject is capital gains tax.
We might paraphrase the words of the song by the rock band The Who: Meet the new tax, same as the old tax. Your mother should have sought professional help in this matter, that’s spilt milk, no merit crying over it, however, it now behoves you to get the help to ensure you pay the right amount of tax and not a penny more.
