CGT on UK Property for a Non-Resident in Argentina

Selling a UK flat after moving to Argentina can leave you with a UK capital gains tax (CGT) bill. If you are non-UK-resident, you normally report the disposal to HMRC within 60 days of completion, even when relief leaves no tax to pay. Any CGT due is payable by the same deadline. For a residential property you owned before 6 April 2015, the starting value for the default non-resident calculation is generally its 5 April 2015 market value, which may be very different from what you paid.

Residence determines the reporting route

A British passport says nothing about UK tax residence. The Statutory Residence Test determines your position in the tax year of exchange and completion; the departure year may qualify for split-year treatment. A move abroad does not itself establish non-residence. UK residents use the ordinary CGT rules, including UK Property reporting where tax is payable, while non-residents remain within UK CGT on UK land.

The circumstances of the property then decide which calculation matters. A former main home may attract Private Residence Relief (PRR), while a buy-to-let that was never your home cannot. The non-resident charge began for residential property on 6 April 2015 and expanded to commercial property and other UK land from 6 April 2019, with a different rebasing date and potentially different rates. A property outside the UK is not a UK-land disposal merely because its owner once lived in Britain; Argentine residence and any continuing UK residence still need consideration.

The calculations below concern a direct residential sale by an individual. Company ownership, indirect sales of property-rich entities, gifts and jointly held property call for their own treatment. If the house produced rent before sale, the non-resident landlord scheme deals with rental income, a separate tax event from the eventual gain.

Where the taxable gain begins

For residential property acquired before 6 April 2015, the default non-resident calculation generally starts with a defensible valuation at 5 April 2015. You can instead elect to time-apportion the gain over the entire ownership period or use the whole gain since acquisition. Comparing those permitted methods matters because the 2015 valuation does not always give the best result. A later purchase uses its actual acquisition cost; commercial property and other UK land generally have a 5 April 2019 non-resident rebasing date.

Allowable acquisition and selling costs include legal and estate-agent fees. Qualifying capital improvements made after the valuation date can also reduce the gain, but routine repairs and mortgage repayments cannot. A 2012 extension is already reflected in a 2015 valuation and should not be deducted again. Dated invoices and a retrospective surveyor's valuation give the figures a basis. Losses and the annual exempt amount can reduce the chargeable gain under the applicable rules. For individuals the exemption is £3,000 in 2026/27; residential gains fall at 18% within the remaining basic-rate band and 24% above it (September 2026). Other UK taxable income uses that band first.

Consider a British owner who bought a UK buy-to-let in 2013, moved to Buenos Aires and is non-UK-resident under the Statutory Residence Test. In September 2026 the property sells for £350,000. Its documented 5 April 2015 value is £250,000, with £5,000 of allowable selling costs and £10,000 of qualifying improvements from 2020. The rebased gain is £350,000 − £250,000 − £5,000 − £10,000 = £85,000. With no PRR because it was never the owner's home, the £3,000 exemption leaves £82,000 taxable. Assuming £15,000 of other UK taxable income, no other gains or losses and a £37,700 basic-rate band, £22,700 of the gain at 18% produces £4,086; the remaining £59,300 at 24% produces £14,232. That is £18,318 UK CGT, before any separate Argentine calculation.

When the property was your home

PRR covers qualifying occupation as your only or main home. Normally the final nine months of ownership also qualify if it was your main residence at some point. If you moved out and let the entire home, part of the gain outside that final period may be taxable. Lettings relief is now generally confined to time when you shared occupation with a tenant. Certain absences, including overseas employment, can qualify under specific conditions, making evidence of employment and occupation dates valuable.

A non-resident seeking to establish an unoccupied UK property as a residence for relief also faces additional rules, including a 90-day UK-property occupation test in a tax year, subject to limited exceptions. Earlier actual occupation and the final-period rule still count. The PRR fraction must fit the gain method used: applying an ownership-wide relief fraction blindly to a post-2015 rebased gain can distort the result. Move dates, tenancy agreements and the 2015 valuation therefore belong together in the calculation. A sale within nine months of leaving can be fully relieved if the home qualified for the rest of the relevant period; an earlier unrelieved letting period may still leave a taxable gain.

The 60-day return follows completion

The deadline starts at legal completion, rather than exchange or the arrival of sale proceeds in Argentina. The return needs the purchase and sale statements, legal and agent invoices, improvement receipts, occupation dates and any documented 2015 valuation. Exchange and completion dates also help establish the correct tax-year residence position. For joint owners, each person calculates their share and meets their own reporting obligation.

HMRC's Capital Gains Tax on UK Property service handles residential sales; other UK land uses the applicable non-resident property reporting route. Non-residents normally report even when PRR or a loss reduces the CGT to zero, though limited exceptions depend on the disposal. HMRC has a paper route for people unable to report online. Keeping a UK National Insurance number and Government Gateway access available makes the online route easier after departure. Payment of estimated CGT falls due within the same 60 days; a later Self Assessment return includes both the disposal and tax already paid, with an estimate corrected if final taxable income changes the rate. Late returns and payments can attract penalties and interest.

The departure form P85 and Self Assessment residence pages SA109 serve different filing purposes and do not replace the disposal return. The UK tax departure guide explains those wider obligations.

The Argentine calculation and a possible UK return

Once you become Argentine tax-resident, Argentina can tax worldwide income and gains. The UK–Argentina treaty permits UK tax on gains from UK immovable property; Argentine domestic treatment and any credit for UK tax depend on the residence date, asset history, classification of the gain and local credit rules. Proof of UK payment and exchange-rate records will matter for a filing with ARCA, Argentina's tax authority formerly called AFIP. An Argentine tax adviser can assess the credit rather than assuming a pound-for-pound offset. The Argentine tax residence guide covers when those obligations begin.

Returning to Britain before five full tax years have passed may engage temporary non-residence provisions for certain gains on assets held before departure, subject to their conditions. UK land is already within the non-resident charge, so the return itself does not create a second identical UK CGT bill. Departure, sale and return dates settle how the rules interact. If the sale is still a choice, selling or letting your UK home before moving turns on rental income, timing and PRR as well as tax in Argentina.