Tax burden lifted for overseas investors

Permalink: Tax burden lifted for overseas investors
by Gill Montia

Tax changes that will benefit Britons, who have invested in second homes overseas through a limited company, are embodied in the 2008 Finance Bill that is currently making its way through Parliament.

Some overseas investors own their properties in this way because of legal restrictions that they would otherwise face as individual property owners in their chosen destinations.

In changes outlined in the March 2008 Budget, this group of people will no longer be required to pay UK tax for residing in company owned overseas properties that could provide rental income.

The measure is retrospective, meaning that any tax charge is deemed never to have arisen.

Under certain circumstances, HM Revenue & Customs will rebate tax already paid.

According to the Office of National Statistics, around 850,000 UK residents now own property abroad and while no figures are available for ownership through a company, estimates run from between 10% and 20%.