Readers' forum : Taxing gain

In 2016-17 my client expects to receive interest and dividends of about £210 and £1 260 respectively with her only other income from pensions of about £7 850 (a small loss arose on my closing furnished lettings computation). At first sight she may ‘waste’ £3 150 of her £11 000 personal allowance. However she has a capital gain of £50 600 on a former buy-to-let property after allowing for some small losses brought forward and her £11 100 annual exemption.

She must treat this gain as the top slice of her taxable income. Can she therefore regard the first £3 150 of it as absorbing the rest of her personal allowance to save £882 (28% tax on the top slice of the gain)?

My Yellow Tax Guide says on TCGA 1992 s 8: ‘Unused personal allowances cannot be set against chargeable gains.’ However a...