Tax on House

[katekoala]

Hi
my husband and I have our own home, and bought a 2nd last year which we are renting out. We are looking to sell when the market picks up - and am aware I will have to pay tax on any profit that we make on the house.

I am not at all trying to get out of paying tax, all that bothers me, is we spent a great deal on the house to renovate (it was a total tip!) probably in the region of £20-£30k, and we wont actually make any profit, just get our money back (if that!) would I still be liable for tax?

I can list what jobs have been done, and am sure I can even get photo evidence of before/after
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I had an answer from someone who said I need to keep hold of all receipts - I have receipts for items purchased - but i do not have receipts for work that was completed as I was never given these by the builder - although I have the quotations - is this now going to go against me? I had no idea that thars what I had to do :(

[ummmm]

If you still have the quotes you can get the builder to confirm what you've paid.

[katekoala]

Sounds daft - but what if they do not get back to me ?! I know 1 we had a massive row with as didnt finish all the works required as per the quote (but was paid for the work that was completed) and there was a 2nd (the guy that fitted the windows) he moved to cardiff 6 months ago, and have no details at all to contact him :(

[kags]

when you submit your tax return with the computation of the gain, you are not at that point required to submit
receipt, just to include details of improvement expendiuture. If HMRC choose to query the computation, you may be asked to provide evidence of the expenditure - and this could be via your bank statments and cheque book stubs.

[buildersmate]

You really need to get into the habit of paying builders (including part-payments) on receipt of their invoices. Anyone who pays their builder in cash as the job progresses is asking for trouble.