Reporting capital gains tax on residential property

One ‘given’ of being a tax practitioner is that tax law is ever-changing. It is therefore an imperative that we keep up to date with those changes so that we can advise our clients accordingly. One potentially wide-ranging change from 6 April 2020 relates to the declaration of taxable gains on residential property.

I have acted recently on behalf of two clients who sold properties within a week of each other. Both had lost parents in the previous year so had inherited houses. One client has had a bad experience with identity theft so is wary of anything online that involves disclosing personal details the other is happy to do things online but is not confident. The sales took place after 6 April 2020 so they had to be declared on a capital gains tax return within 30 days under FA 2019 Sch 2.

To make the...