Capital gains tax rates are set to stay the same for at least five years or at least the life of this Parliament, according to Chancellor George Osborne.
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Brits who were illegally charged capital gains tax when selling a home in Spain have just one month left to make a claim for a refund.

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The world’s not going to end just because property investors face a hike in capital gains tax.

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Capital gains tax is set to double on second homes and personal ‘non-business’ assets from 18% to nearer 40% when the Con-Dems announce their first Budget around the end of June.

Under current tax rules, this means CGT on buy to let investment property will go up in line with the top rate.

Tax on business assets – currently including furnished holiday lets – will benefit from reduced CGT through entrepreneur’s relief.

The plan to increase the inheritance tax threshold to £1 million is dropped, but the Lib-Dems have agreed to abstain from any vote in this Parliament for any Tory proposals to bring in tax relief for married couples.

Both sides have set ‘within 50 days’ as the date for the next Budget.

The best comment on this election is whether the next prime minister needs a house in multiple occupation licence for 10 Downing Street.

If so, the local council will have to judge home a ‘fit and proper’ person to manage the government.

In seriousness this election does not really mean much to property investors.

The only sure thing for buy to let landlords, property investors and developers is house prices are likely to stay flat while taxes and mortgages rates are hiked up gradually over the coming year or so.

Whoever sits in the big chair at No 10 really doesn’t have a choice – they have to raise taxes to pay for the economic crisis Labour and the banks dumped on the country. Gordon Brown was a dead man walking after picking up the poison chalice of government from Tony Blair. The poor guy was pretty much battered by the system and he didn’t know how to react other than to lie down and take it.

The next incumbent will have to deal with raising taxes and making cuts.

It’s a bit like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Capital gains tax (CGT) is likely to be a casualty.  The current rate of 18% does not make sense – it’s got to be tied back in with a rate that’s the same as the taxpayer’s highest rate because it just doesn’t make sense to sell investments at a lower tax rate than the general rate of income tax.

Property investors who want to dispose of homes should look at sealing the deal before the first post-election budget that is predicted within 60 days. The clock is ticking to take advantage of the low CGT rate.

Inheritance tax is the next big hitter. The Tories have indicated during their campaign that the threshold will rise to £1 million.

Houses in multiple occupation (HMO) are an interesting one. David Cameron has gone on record as intending to repeal the new planning and licensing rules that were introduced on April 6. This would be a major reversal of policy after Labour hung so much stock on demonising landlords with the new regulations.

If HMOs go, it’s likely the online ‘rate your landlord’ web site will be another casualty as well.

Likewise, furnished holiday lets need action too. The current rules run out on June 30 and the Tories successfully negotiated the removal of Labour’s new holiday let tax laws from the last Budget. There seems little point in supporting second home and holiday let owners in the run up to a vote only to forget the promise afterwards.

Property investors who have received a letter from the taxman asking for a call about unpaid tax on income from property letting, then you need to speak to a property professional like Property Investment Expert.

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Buying residential investment property with a company is a financial disaster for most people.

Most accountants would advise against a property company holding ownership because of the tax disadvantages that stack up.

The main problem is capital gains tax.

At the moment, individuals pay capital gains tax at a generous 18%. Most tax advisers would expect this to go up after the election and certainly in the next budget.

The rate is out of kilter with other tax rates when  most people who can afford to invest in property are paying at least 40% income tax.

The current low rate allows tax saving opportunities that the next government will surely want to reverse

Companies do not pay capital gains tax but corporation tax on their sales of property.

The corporation tax rate is at least 28% and clearly a lot higher than an individual would pay when selling the same property personally.

That’s without taking in to account personal reliefs like PPR and lettings relief that protect profits earned on a house you have lived in and each owner’s personal annual capital gains tax exemption, currently £10,100.

Paying less capital gains tax is possible if a couple split ownership, where a company generally would have 100% ownership of a property.

Although investing in buy to let property with a company is not a great idea, property development or trading through a company is the opposite.

Most taxpayers would certainly benefit from buying and refurbishing property with a company so they can manage the amount of income they can draw from profits at lower rates of income tax.

The key is taking effective tax advice on how to pay less tax before buying a property rather than jumping in and completing the deal only to find out thousands of pounds could have been saved with some professional advice.

Need property tax advice? Try the Property Investment Expert tax and self assessment service

Landlords and investors have a window from the Budget to get rid of poor performing properties while capital gains tax rates remain unchanged for the general election honeymoon period.

The fear was capital gains tax (CGT) would go up in the Budget as  a measure to raise extra cash from those the government considers wealthy individuals.

In his speech, Chancellor Alastair Darling made no change to CGT rates, leaving investors a window until after the forthcoming general election.

Click here for capital gains tax (cgt) help

Many landlords and investors have been waiting for the Budget to decide what to do with properties that are a drag on the rest of the portfolio because rental yield is low or mortgages are high.

• For investors with buy to let property, selling before any tax rate changes announced in post election Budgets threatened by all the major parties means tax on a chargeable gain at 18%. A new rate of up to 50% was whispered around Whitehall prior to the Budget.

• For investors with furnished holiday lets, the outlook is bleaker as the tax break of treating them as business properties ends on April 5. For capital gains tax purposes, tax years up to April 5, 2010 still allow furnished holiday let owners to claim entrepreneurs and rollover reliefs, even if they are sold up to three years after that date. Entrepreneurs Relief is charged at a rate of 10%.

Disposing of property should be a little easier for investors as well with first time buyers purchasing a property under £250,000 exempt from Stamp Duty.

Overall, little has changed for property investors in the Budget – with the inheritance tax rates and thresholds staying unchanged.

The temporary extension of trading loss carry-back from one to three years for losses up to £50,000 continues for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 tax years for individuals and partnerships.

Click here for capital gains tax (cgt) help