大咖福利影院

I would say your best talking to a tax advisor rather some random on the internet, at the end of the day if so, it will be you who is hurt financially.

If you look through online chats everywhere, there's many people giving out incorrect information that ends up costing someone something more than they expected when the uneducated (in the subject) follow it blindly.

It's a minefield! I'm in the same predicament with one property and there appears to be a couple of ways of approaching a sale, with differing tax implications. So far it's clear that closing the company and transferring the assets into your own name (only applicable, apparently, if you have long-term residency) is NOT the way to do it. I have a couple of experts looking at the best tactic to reduce tax liability but it seems that the government is going to get its claws into the profits whatever you do. I'll add updates when and if things become clearer, and I'd be grateful if anyone else going through this nonsense could add their findings as well....

I know nothing.....but I thought the "10 years" is only applicable to those who own property directly and not through a company.

I think you can 1. Sell the asset or even 2. Sell all the shares in the company to the new buyer.

Option 2 may be more tax efficient in Bulgaria (i.e 10% vs circa 15%).

However, if you are also UK tax resident you most likely will have to pay any difference in the UK.

Oh the joys of making lots of money 馃�� 馃挵

There is no "10 years" involved but there ARE 3- and 5-year rules: when you own property directly you can sell one property per year with no CGT or other tax, provided you've owned it at least 3 years. If you own more than one residential property and have owned both for over 5 years you can can sell two of them in one year without attracting CGT. Sales of agricultural/forestry properties are tax-free after you've held them for 5 years, with no annual limit.

Unfortunately, the rules above don't cover property held through a company and getting around the tax liability is nowhere near as simple as is sometimes assumed. If you don't structure the sale properly you can get a good kicking from the taxman.

As I touched on before, there are several ways of handling the situation we find ourselves in and they're all convoluted and involve expenses that we wouldn't have as individual owners. Some superficially appear more attractive than others but on closer inspection aren't, some involve a degree of financial jiggery-pokery and include the hitherto inactive company becoming active and liable to tax and accountancy charges, others seem simple (eg dissolving the company) but are actually very long-winded and time-consuming.

Believe me, you don't want to rush into anything聽 particularly if you intend to continue living here..

@JimJ

Thanks Jim, I'll be very interested to hear how you progress. It is definitely a minefield & makes my head spin thinking about it!

@Jules999

I'll try and create a post setting out an outline of the various options and what each involves.聽 I'm afraid that the basic takeaway is that whichever route you take, you're going to be forking out several thousand euros that you wouldn't have had to had the Bulgarian government not forced you to form a company to buy a house..聽 It's galling but there doesn't appear any legal way to avoid it, all you can do is balance the factors that are important to you (making the property attractive to potential buyers, balancing the length of time you have to wait to get your hands on the loot against how much that loot will be, how much you'll fork out in lawyer's/accountant's fees and government taxes etc.聽 IMO, the main thing to avoid is some shark's shady dodge to save yourself money - you'll pay them come what may but the whole thing could blow up in your face some time down the line and, as we all know, there's no come-back on the "professional(s)" who left you in the doo-doo..

@JimJ

Thanks again Jim, I'm sure it'll be a useful thread for others finding themselves in a similar situation in the future too.