Tax on unplanned investment cars?
Discussion
Windymiller said:
I’m lucky enough to own a Mk1 Escort Mexico bought via this very site over 10 years ago for just over £10k.
Not that I plan to sell, but with the price of Old Ford’s as they are (£60k for some Mexicos) would one be liable for income tax if they were to sell?
If you sold a car as a one-off and as a private individual (and were not acting as what HMRC would deem a trader), you’ll be fine. Not that I plan to sell, but with the price of Old Ford’s as they are (£60k for some Mexicos) would one be liable for income tax if they were to sell?
Armitage.Shanks said:
It’s no surprise that watches and vehicles have risen over the last few years given they are ‘mechanical’ they are free from CGT. Everything else you flog on ebay is liable for CGT 
With the CGT free allowances dropping (to zero eventually?) I can’t see it being fun selling anything on eBay soon.Plenty of stuff has kept pace with inflation on RRP.
I recently sold an old computer heatsink/fan for more than I paid for it, as the equivalent new one 12 years on costs about double.
I can’t see zero CGT allowances being palatable once people realise they could be being taxed on inflation on durable goods.
We’ve even managed to buy used kids clothes and then sell them a year or so later (shoes especially) for more than we paid.
Again inflation making higher prices acceptable.
I can’t imagine it’ll be long before cars don’t get a free pass.
This government are raking it in with taxes due to inflation.
Mr Whippy said:
With the CGT free allowances dropping (to zero eventually?) I can’t see it being fun selling anything on eBay soon.
Plenty of stuff has kept pace with inflation on RRP.
I recently sold an old computer heatsink/fan for more than I paid for it, as the equivalent new one 12 years on costs about double.
I can’t see zero CGT allowances being palatable once people realise they could be being taxed on inflation on durable goods.
We’ve even managed to buy used kids clothes and then sell them a year or so later (shoes especially) for more than we paid.
Again inflation making higher prices acceptable.
I can’t imagine it’ll be long before cars don’t get a free pass.
This government are raking it in with taxes due to inflation.
There still won't be CGT on most things as they'll qualify as 'chattels'.Plenty of stuff has kept pace with inflation on RRP.
I recently sold an old computer heatsink/fan for more than I paid for it, as the equivalent new one 12 years on costs about double.
I can’t see zero CGT allowances being palatable once people realise they could be being taxed on inflation on durable goods.
We’ve even managed to buy used kids clothes and then sell them a year or so later (shoes especially) for more than we paid.
Again inflation making higher prices acceptable.
I can’t imagine it’ll be long before cars don’t get a free pass.
This government are raking it in with taxes due to inflation.
deggles said:
I can't see cars ever being in scope for CGT as it currently exists. Far more cars depreciate than appreciate, and CGT works both ways. It would be a massive net loss in terms of tax revenue if everyone could write off capital losses on vehicles!
That'll be it.But with the current massacre of allowances it wouldn't surprise me if cars that appreciate become subject to CGT, and cars that depreciate, can't be offset. After all, he who makes the rules wins, and there are schools to fix... It's basically how much you can get off the people before they vote for the other side - who will then do the same.
Windymiller said:
So what's to stop people abusing this to gift money to kids for example?
Could I sell my Mex to my dad (I never would - mine forevere!!!) for £150k and that's legal?
To your dad might not be a good idea as when he dies it would be added to his estate for IHT purposes but other than that it is perfectly fine to buy a car and give it to a child or sell it to your dad…it’s not abusing anything.Could I sell my Mex to my dad (I never would - mine forevere!!!) for £150k and that's legal?
In theory you can gift money within limits.
The issue in the original question is selling a car tax free…that is fine as everyone has said. It gets much more complicated when you start gifting to family as it could become a potentially exempt transfer.
Better to keep it simple and just sell it….to an unconnected party.
If you sell a high value car and do not pay income tax on it you then have the cash to dispose of if you want to not pay tax on death etc.
If you sold the car to dad and he dies below the iht level then you get the money back tax free but he would be better off directing to a trust on death…it gets complicated.
Windymiller said:
So what's to stop people abusing this to gift money to kids for example?
Could I sell my Mex to my dad (I never would - mine forevere!!!) for £150k and that's legal?
Kind of the reverse for me: My Mum and Step Dad sold me their Mk2 RS2000 in 1995 for a token amount, that they'd owned almost from new. The deal was that if I sold it in future then any profit would be shared between them and me. I took it off the road in 1998 as I knew it would need a small amount of welding to the strut top area and I didn't want to just bodge it/plate it over. Annoying as it's the only rust on the car, which I know seems rare for an old Ford, but it wasn't really used in the winter much after the first 3-4 years they owned it.Could I sell my Mex to my dad (I never would - mine forevere!!!) for £150k and that's legal?
Here we are 25 years later and I've done part of the welding, but still not quite finished it.
Hoping to get on with this now 'retirement project' in the autumn if I get the last few outdoor car related jobs sorted out first. I got an insurance quote recently and they would value it at £40k, so that's a fair bit more than I paid in 1995...Seventy-Eight said:
Mr Whippy said:
With the CGT free allowances dropping (to zero eventually?) I can’t see it being fun selling anything on eBay soon.
Plenty of stuff has kept pace with inflation on RRP.
I recently sold an old computer heatsink/fan for more than I paid for it, as the equivalent new one 12 years on costs about double.
I can’t see zero CGT allowances being palatable once people realise they could be being taxed on inflation on durable goods.
We’ve even managed to buy used kids clothes and then sell them a year or so later (shoes especially) for more than we paid.
Again inflation making higher prices acceptable.
I can’t imagine it’ll be long before cars don’t get a free pass.
This government are raking it in with taxes due to inflation.
There still won't be CGT on most things as they'll qualify as 'chattels'.Plenty of stuff has kept pace with inflation on RRP.
I recently sold an old computer heatsink/fan for more than I paid for it, as the equivalent new one 12 years on costs about double.
I can’t see zero CGT allowances being palatable once people realise they could be being taxed on inflation on durable goods.
We’ve even managed to buy used kids clothes and then sell them a year or so later (shoes especially) for more than we paid.
Again inflation making higher prices acceptable.
I can’t imagine it’ll be long before cars don’t get a free pass.
This government are raking it in with taxes due to inflation.
HMRC website is a joke in this regard. Everything you’d buy these days is a chattel as no one makes stuff to last over 50 years, yet there HMRC are chasing people via eBay.
Mr Whippy said:
Seventy-Eight said:
Mr Whippy said:
With the CGT free allowances dropping (to zero eventually?) I can’t see it being fun selling anything on eBay soon.
Plenty of stuff has kept pace with inflation on RRP.
I recently sold an old computer heatsink/fan for more than I paid for it, as the equivalent new one 12 years on costs about double.
I can’t see zero CGT allowances being palatable once people realise they could be being taxed on inflation on durable goods.
We’ve even managed to buy used kids clothes and then sell them a year or so later (shoes especially) for more than we paid.
Again inflation making higher prices acceptable.
I can’t imagine it’ll be long before cars don’t get a free pass.
This government are raking it in with taxes due to inflation.
There still won't be CGT on most things as they'll qualify as 'chattels'.Plenty of stuff has kept pace with inflation on RRP.
I recently sold an old computer heatsink/fan for more than I paid for it, as the equivalent new one 12 years on costs about double.
I can’t see zero CGT allowances being palatable once people realise they could be being taxed on inflation on durable goods.
We’ve even managed to buy used kids clothes and then sell them a year or so later (shoes especially) for more than we paid.
Again inflation making higher prices acceptable.
I can’t imagine it’ll be long before cars don’t get a free pass.
This government are raking it in with taxes due to inflation.
HMRC website is a joke in this regard. Everything you’d buy these days is a chattel as no one makes stuff to last over 50 years, yet there HMRC are chasing people via eBay.
markh1973 said:
which is nothing to do with chattels or CGT but their suspicion that people are trading.
The suspicion is irrelevant if it’s policy.The chess set is the perfect example.
It’s over £6,000 so you pay CGT on a gain when you dispose of it.
I’ve got an old ‘antique’ juke box. If I ever sell it I’ll get CGT exposure.
Yet in inflation linked terms it’s probably only just holding its value.
It didn’t matter with £10,000 a year CGT free allowance.
It definitely will matter when all exposed capital gains gains are taxable.
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