Capital Gain/Loss Selling Property

Toots

I saw there was a similar thread on here about CGT but my query is slightly different, and I didn't want to hijack the other thread.

Scenario is I bought a property in Dublin in 2006 for 330k. It's been our PPR until October 2021, when we bought a house in the west of Ireland and moved there, however my husband has to work 2 days a week in Dublin, so he uses the property to stay over while he's there.

We had the property valued recently and the value was 230k. If we were to sell it now, would that be a capital loss? And if so, is it possible to offset that against past/future CGT? My husband gets shares from work every year and over half of it goes on CGT so it would be nice to reduce that.

Also, would the situation change if we were to rent out the apartment for a few years? I think I understand how the PPR relief works in terms of if you make a gain, but struggling to see what the situation would be if you sell at a loss.

ari101

My understanding is the revenue position on a PPR is, same as you would get relief from a gain, you cannot claim allowance for the loss for the period you lived there. The final 12 months is assumed occupation also, so in your case the allowable loss you can offset against other capital gains (in the year of loss, or carry forward if not used in full in that year) would only relate to time since Oct 2021 less the last 12 months, so unless you hold the house a good while longer there is nothing to claim.

Maybe some else can confirm if they've managed to get around that.

Toots

That makes sense, you can't have your cake and eat it, so to speak.