# Transfer French property deeds to UK Ltd company



## stevemortimorelocati (4 mo ago)

I own a small vacation home in France and thinking of moving home in the UK, but looking to avoid paying a large 2nd home tax. I was wondering about transferring the France property over to my UK Ltd company to avoid the 2nd home tax, would this work and can this be done easily and are there any pitfalls?
Thanks


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## EuroTrash (Sep 3, 2013)

Could you clarify what this "2nd home tax" is? Is it a UK tax or a French tax? It sounds as if you live in the UK and are going to move from one primary residence to another, is that correct? If so, why would moving home within the UK trigger this tax?.

There is a cost to changing the ownership of a French property - notaire fees etc.

When you say "vacation home" do you mean you rent it out for profit, or do you use it as your own personal holiday home? If the latter, how would you justify the purchase as a proper use of company funds? 

Sorry if I'm being dim, but I don't recognise this 2nd home tax so I don't understand what it is you're trying to avoid..


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## stevemortimorelocati (4 mo ago)

Sorry I wasnt that clear, I was referring to Stamp duty
In the UK if you own a property already, either in the UK or overseas, when you purchase a 2nd home, you have to pay a premium on the Stamp duty tax


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## Clic Clac (Aug 15, 2011)

stevemortimorelocati said:


> Sorry I wasnt that clear, I was referring to Stamp duty
> In the UK if you own a property already, either in the UK or overseas, when you purchase a 2nd home, you have to pay a premium on the Stamp duty tax


It sounds more like a question for the UK forum, but according to these folk :









Stamp Duty on Second Homes


Find out how much extra tax you will pay when buying a second property in Islington and Stoke Newington.




mandmproperty.co.uk





*"If you already own a principal residence in the UK (England, Wales or Northern Ireland) in addition to your home abroad, 
you won’t be liable for the 3% SDLT surcharge as long as you’re selling your previous main UK residence.*"

Confirm it with your solicitor.


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## eairicbloodaxe (May 4, 2016)

Multiple countries home owner here - basically, no you can't avoid the 3% SDLT uplift by swapping your property into a company. But as per Bev's link, if you are moving Principal Private Residence in the UK, you should not pay it anyway.

However, there are two other good reasons NOT to do it. If you move ownership of the French property to the UK company you will have immediate fees and charges to pay in France for the transfer (in effect it is a sale). And the bigger hidden issue is of CGT when (if?) your French Property is eventually sold again. 

We had a situation recently where a client sold their French property at a massive loss, and instead of the Capital Gain calculation being "sale price minus purchase price and allowable expenses over ownership period times CGT rate" (therefore nothing to pay) the Notaire/Tax Advisors pointed out that as the ownership was registered to a foreign Ltd company there's a different calculation that includes amortising capital asset depreciation over ownership period as well, before calculating the start figure - which meant that even though the property was sold for about half what it was bought for, the owner owed a massive chunk of the sale price in CGT!

If you really want to own French property in a company, simplest way is to set up a French SCI. But there are costs, annual charges, etc. to be considered as in any such structure. YMMV.

Kind regards


Ian


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## stevemortimorelocati (4 mo ago)

eairicbloodaxe said:


> Multiple countries home owner here - basically, no you can't avoid the 3% SDLT uplift by swapping your property into a company. But as per Bev's link, if you are moving Principal Private Residence in the UK, you should not pay it anyway.
> 
> However, there are two other good reasons NOT to do it. If you move ownership of the French property to the UK company you will have immediate fees and charges to pay in France for the transfer (in effect it is a sale). And the bigger hidden issue is of CGT when (if?) your French Property is eventually sold again.
> 
> ...


Thank you, really good intel here
No I don't really want to transfer the home into a UK business, I just thought that I could be heavily penalised but now it seems I was misunderstood, thank you for this, much appreciated


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