Latest news with #AJBell
Sky News
5 hours ago
- Business
- Sky News
Money Problem: 'I'm selling my second home - how much capital gains tax do I need to pay?'
Bob Jones writes in with this Money Problem... We bought a house in 2014 for £128,500. We hope to sell it in the coming months for £220,000. How much capital gains tax would we need to pay? If we spend money tidying up the house, can we offset that against the tax? We have looked into this but it is all rather unclear. There are quite a few unknowns here, and Bob did not leave his contact details for us to get in touch, so we have assumed that this property is a second home. We spoke to Charlene Young, a senior pensions and savings expert at AJ Bell... If the original purchase price is £128,500, selling your second home for £220,000 would gain you £91,500. "Assuming the property is in your own name only, and you've made no other gains on other investments held outside an ISA or pension in the year, you can deduct your annual tax-free allowance for capital gains of £3,000 to get a taxable gain of £88,500," Young says. If you own the property jointly, you'll need to work out the gain for your share. Young says that gains from the sale of residential property that isn't your main home are taxed at 18% for basic rate taxpayers and 24% for higher rate taxpayers. If your regular income and capital gains combined are below £50,270, you will be taxed at 18% bar the first £12,570 (your standard tax-free personal allowance). Any amount above £50,270 will be taxed at 24%. What costs can you deduct? "The good news is that some costs can be deducted before you apply your CGT allowance," says Young. The rules allow for the costs of buying, selling or improving your property. Typically, these will include stamp duty on the original purchase, estate agent and solicitor fees, plus the cost of any capital improvements like an extension or a loft conversion. Maintenance costs, such as decorating and repairs due to wear and tear, are not normally allowable and you must keep complete records to prove the costs you do claim. In your specific case, Bob... "Costs and capital improvements of £20,000 in total could lower your taxable gain to £68,500 and mean a lower tax bill," says Young. Did you ever live in the property yourself? You might benefit from tax relief for any periods of time you lived in the property yourself, thanks to something called Private Residence Relief. "If you have genuinely lived in the house as your only or main residence at any point, you get relief for that time, plus the last nine months before sale, even if you weren't living there in those final months," says Young. If we assume you owned the property for 11 years (132 months) before the sale completes, and you lived in it for two years between, up to 25% of the gain could qualify for relief. This is calculated by adding nine months to the two years (33 months) and dividing by 132 months. You can find a second home tax calculator and more information on private residence relief on the website. This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Pound edges lower following economic growth forecast cut
The pound dipped nearly 0.2% against the dollar (GBPUSD=X) to trade at $1.3519 on Tuesday, after the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cut its forecasts for growth in 2025 and 2026. The OECD warned that the economic outlook was becoming "increasingly challenging" and predicted that that global gross domestic product (GDP) growth will slow from 3.3% in 2024 to 2.9% this year and in 2026. The organisation said that was based on the 'on the technical assumption that tariff rates as of mid-May are sustained despite ongoing legal challenges." "The slowdown is concentrated in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with China and other economies expected to see smaller downward adjustments," it said. For the UK, the OECD lowered it economic growth forecast to 1.3% this year, from the 1.4% it predicted in March. It expected growth to slow further in 2026 to 1%, which was also lower than a previous forecast of 1.2%. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell (AJB.L), said that while the OECD's global growth forecast cut was "only a small revision ... it's still enough to cause investors some digestion as they consume their morning news." "The 90-day pause on tariffs has just over a month before expiration, meaning the pressure is on countries to do deals with the Trump administration," he said. "Reports suggest that [US president Donald] Trump wants best offers on trade negotiations by Wednesday, perhaps to avoid any last-minute rush or stalemate situations." Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks head lower as global growth set to slow this year amid Trump tariffs On Monday, China hit back at Trump's claim it had violated the temporary trade agreement between the two countries, while the EU said it opposed the president's doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. The dollar index ( which pits the greenback against a basket of global currencies, ticked up 0.2% at 98.91. It has lost about 0.9% over the past five sessions. Markets have endured wild swings since Trump unveiled sweeping global tariffs in April. Last week, a new source of uncertainty over his trade policy emerged when a federal appeals court quickly paused a ruling that would have blocked most of the president's tariffs as illegal. The Trump administration is due to respond to the appeals court by Monday 9 June. Sterling was slightly higher against the euro (GBPEUR=X), meanwhile, hitting the €1.184 mark ahead of the eurozone's fresh flash inflation reading and interest rate decision later in the week. Eurozone inflation dipped to 1.9% year-on-year in May, according to the latest flash estimates, slightly below the ECB's 2% target. Oil prices were muted on Tuesday morning, as concerns about economic growth appeared to cap gains from a OPEC+-induced rally in the previous session. Brent crude futures (BZ=F) were flat at $64.59 a barrel, at the time of writing, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) dipped 0.1% at $62.43 a barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies — known as OPEC+ — said in a statement on Saturday that its eight participating countries had agreed to increase output by 411,000 barrels per day. Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio Jim Reid, a market strategist at Deutsche Bank ( said: "An increase of this magnitude was flagged on the wires on Friday afternoon and there was some prospect of it being higher than this. He said that oil futures were higher on Monday morning "in a relief that the output increase wasn't higher." However, the OECD's economic growth forecast cut appeared to reignite fears of a global slowdown and how this could weigh on demand for fuel. Gold prices fell declined on Tuesday, as a stronger dollar weighed on the precious metal. Gold futures (GC=F) fell 0.4% at $3,382.30 per ounce at the time of writing, while the spot gold price was down 0.7% to $3,356.98 per ounce. A stronger greenback tends to weigh on gold prices, as the precious metal is typically priced in dollars, meaning a rise in the currency makes the commodity more expensive for foreign buyers. Read more: Trending tickers: Meta, TSMC, BioNTech, Applied Digital and BAT In a note on Tuesday, Bank of America (BAC) strategists said that they were bullish on gold over a one-month horizon. They acknowledged that gold was "facing headwinds near-term as the market adjusts to Trump's economic policies, which may bring about higher inflation and a stronger USD [dollar]." "There is also a risk the EM (emerging market) central bank reduce gold buying, if domestic currencies decline on tariffs," they said. "Yet, ongoing macro uncertainty and rising global debt levels remain supportive," the strategists added. Read more: What is the Pension Investment Review? Eurozone inflation cools to 1.9% in May paving way for interest rate cut UK 'bargain' stocks that have outperformed the market long-termSign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Pound edges lower following economic growth forecast cut
The pound dipped nearly 0.2% against the dollar (GBPUSD=X) to trade at $1.3519 on Tuesday, after the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cut its forecasts for growth in 2025 and 2026. The OECD warned that the economic outlook was becoming "increasingly challenging" and predicted that that global gross domestic product (GDP) growth will slow from 3.3% in 2024 to 2.9% this year and in 2026. The organisation said that was based on the 'on the technical assumption that tariff rates as of mid-May are sustained despite ongoing legal challenges." "The slowdown is concentrated in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with China and other economies expected to see smaller downward adjustments," it said. For the UK, the OECD lowered it economic growth forecast to 1.3% this year, from the 1.4% it predicted in March. It expected growth to slow further in 2026 to 1%, which was also lower than a previous forecast of 1.2%. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell (AJB.L), said that while the OECD's global growth forecast cut was "only a small revision ... it's still enough to cause investors some digestion as they consume their morning news." "The 90-day pause on tariffs has just over a month before expiration, meaning the pressure is on countries to do deals with the Trump administration," he said. "Reports suggest that [US president Donald] Trump wants best offers on trade negotiations by Wednesday, perhaps to avoid any last-minute rush or stalemate situations." Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks head lower as global growth set to slow this year amid Trump tariffs On Monday, China hit back at Trump's claim it had violated the temporary trade agreement between the two countries, while the EU said it opposed the president's doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. The dollar index ( which pits the greenback against a basket of global currencies, ticked up 0.2% at 98.91. It has lost about 0.9% over the past five sessions. Markets have endured wild swings since Trump unveiled sweeping global tariffs in April. Last week, a new source of uncertainty over his trade policy emerged when a federal appeals court quickly paused a ruling that would have blocked most of the president's tariffs as illegal. The Trump administration is due to respond to the appeals court by Monday 9 June. Sterling was slightly higher against the euro (GBPEUR=X), meanwhile, hitting the €1.184 mark ahead of the eurozone's fresh flash inflation reading and interest rate decision later in the week. Eurozone inflation dipped to 1.9% year-on-year in May, according to the latest flash estimates, slightly below the ECB's 2% target. Oil prices were muted on Tuesday morning, as concerns about economic growth appeared to cap gains from a OPEC+-induced rally in the previous session. Brent crude futures (BZ=F) were flat at $64.59 a barrel, at the time of writing, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) dipped 0.1% at $62.43 a barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies — known as OPEC+ — said in a statement on Saturday that its eight participating countries had agreed to increase output by 411,000 barrels per day. Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio Jim Reid, a market strategist at Deutsche Bank ( said: "An increase of this magnitude was flagged on the wires on Friday afternoon and there was some prospect of it being higher than this. He said that oil futures were higher on Monday morning "in a relief that the output increase wasn't higher." However, the OECD's economic growth forecast cut appeared to reignite fears of a global slowdown and how this could weigh on demand for fuel. Gold prices fell declined on Tuesday, as a stronger dollar weighed on the precious metal. Gold futures (GC=F) fell 0.4% at $3,382.30 per ounce at the time of writing, while the spot gold price was down 0.7% to $3,356.98 per ounce. A stronger greenback tends to weigh on gold prices, as the precious metal is typically priced in dollars, meaning a rise in the currency makes the commodity more expensive for foreign buyers. Read more: Trending tickers: Meta, TSMC, BioNTech, Applied Digital and BAT In a note on Tuesday, Bank of America (BAC) strategists said that they were bullish on gold over a one-month horizon. They acknowledged that gold was "facing headwinds near-term as the market adjusts to Trump's economic policies, which may bring about higher inflation and a stronger USD [dollar]." "There is also a risk the EM (emerging market) central bank reduce gold buying, if domestic currencies decline on tariffs," they said. "Yet, ongoing macro uncertainty and rising global debt levels remain supportive," the strategists added. Read more: What is the Pension Investment Review? Eurozone inflation cools to 1.9% in May paving way for interest rate cut UK 'bargain' stocks that have outperformed the market long-termError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Pound edges lower following economic growth forecast cut
The pound dipped nearly 0.2% against the dollar (GBPUSD=X) to trade at $1.3519 on Tuesday, after the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cut its forecasts for growth in 2025 and 2026. The OECD warned that the economic outlook was becoming "increasingly challenging" and predicted that that global gross domestic product (GDP) growth will slow from 3.3% in 2024 to 2.9% this year and in 2026. The organisation said that was based on the 'on the technical assumption that tariff rates as of mid-May are sustained despite ongoing legal challenges." "The slowdown is concentrated in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with China and other economies expected to see smaller downward adjustments," it said. For the UK, the OECD lowered it economic growth forecast to 1.3% this year, from the 1.4% it predicted in March. It expected growth to slow further in 2026 to 1%, which was also lower than a previous forecast of 1.2%. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell (AJB.L), said that while the OECD's global growth forecast cut was "only a small revision ... it's still enough to cause investors some digestion as they consume their morning news." "The 90-day pause on tariffs has just over a month before expiration, meaning the pressure is on countries to do deals with the Trump administration," he said. "Reports suggest that [US president Donald] Trump wants best offers on trade negotiations by Wednesday, perhaps to avoid any last-minute rush or stalemate situations." Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks head lower as global growth set to slow this year amid Trump tariffs On Monday, China hit back at Trump's claim it had violated the temporary trade agreement between the two countries, while the EU said it opposed the president's doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. The dollar index ( which pits the greenback against a basket of global currencies, ticked up 0.2% at 98.91. It has lost about 0.9% over the past five sessions. Markets have endured wild swings since Trump unveiled sweeping global tariffs in April. Last week, a new source of uncertainty over his trade policy emerged when a federal appeals court quickly paused a ruling that would have blocked most of the president's tariffs as illegal. The Trump administration is due to respond to the appeals court by Monday 9 June. Sterling was slightly higher against the euro (GBPEUR=X), meanwhile, hitting the €1.184 mark ahead of the eurozone's fresh flash inflation reading and interest rate decision later in the week. Eurozone inflation dipped to 1.9% year-on-year in May, according to the latest flash estimates, slightly below the ECB's 2% target. Oil prices were muted on Tuesday morning, as concerns about economic growth appeared to cap gains from a OPEC+-induced rally in the previous session. Brent crude futures (BZ=F) were flat at $64.59 a barrel, at the time of writing, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) dipped 0.1% at $62.43 a barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies — known as OPEC+ — said in a statement on Saturday that its eight participating countries had agreed to increase output by 411,000 barrels per day. Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio Jim Reid, a market strategist at Deutsche Bank ( said: "An increase of this magnitude was flagged on the wires on Friday afternoon and there was some prospect of it being higher than this. He said that oil futures were higher on Monday morning "in a relief that the output increase wasn't higher." However, the OECD's economic growth forecast cut appeared to reignite fears of a global slowdown and how this could weigh on demand for fuel. Gold prices fell declined on Tuesday, as a stronger dollar weighed on the precious metal. Gold futures (GC=F) fell 0.4% at $3,382.30 per ounce at the time of writing, while the spot gold price was down 0.7% to $3,356.98 per ounce. A stronger greenback tends to weigh on gold prices, as the precious metal is typically priced in dollars, meaning a rise in the currency makes the commodity more expensive for foreign buyers. Read more: Trending tickers: Meta, TSMC, BioNTech, Applied Digital and BAT In a note on Tuesday, Bank of America (BAC) strategists said that they were bullish on gold over a one-month horizon. They acknowledged that gold was "facing headwinds near-term as the market adjusts to Trump's economic policies, which may bring about higher inflation and a stronger USD [dollar]." "There is also a risk the EM (emerging market) central bank reduce gold buying, if domestic currencies decline on tariffs," they said. "Yet, ongoing macro uncertainty and rising global debt levels remain supportive," the strategists added. Read more: What is the Pension Investment Review? Eurozone inflation cools to 1.9% in May paving way for interest rate cut UK 'bargain' stocks that have outperformed the market long-termSe produjo un error al recuperar la información Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
European markets lower as investors eye US-China trade developments
Almost all major European indexes remained in the red on Monday afternoon after China said the US "severely violated" the terms of their recent trade agreement. Market participants also considered the impact of US President Donald Trump's plan to double current tariffs on steel and aluminium from 25% to 50% from this Wednesday. At the time of writing (16:40 CEST), the EURO STOXX 50 was down 0.43%, Germany's DAX fell 0.47%, while France's CAC 40 declined 0.45%. 'Donald Trump has upset markets once again,' Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said in an email note sent to Euronews. 'Doubling import taxes on steel and aluminium, and aggravating China once again, mean we face a situation where uncertainty prevails. Trump's continuous moving of the goal posts is frustrating for businesses, governments, consumers and investors. 'Equity markets were down across Europe and Asia, with futures prices implying a similar pattern when Wall Street opens for trading on Monday. Unsurprisingly, gold got a boost as investors returned to safe-haven assets." Related China accuses US of violating trade truce and vows firm retaliation Meanwhile, US markets ended May on a flat note, although for the month as a whole each of the main indices rose strongly following hopes of tariff reconciliations. "Such optimism will face an immediate challenge as June begins, with comments over the weekend keeping the aggressive rhetoric in place. The latest broadsides from the White House were primarily directed at China and the EU, with both threatening a response in kind to any further tariff hikes," Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said in an email note to Euronews. However, he noted, back on the ground, there were some promising economic signs with the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index coming in lower than expected and with a consumer sentiment index showing higher than had been feared. "However, such respite could prove short-lived as the latter was largely predicated on an apparent softening of hostilities between the US and China in the latter part of the month, which has since evaporated. There will be a further signal on the state of the economy at the end of the week, with non-farm payrolls expected to show that 130,000 jobs will have been added in May compared to 177,000 the previous month and that the 4.2% unemployment rate will remain unchanged. "In the meantime, US markets have repaired much of the damage wrought over the last few months although sentiment remains fragile. The Dow Jones and Nasdaq are down by 0.6% and 1% respectively in the year-to-date, while the 0.5% gain for the benchmark S&P500 has in part been driven by a resurgence of the mega cap technology trade," Hunter said. Related Volkswagen in direct talks with US government regarding tariff deal In addition to contending with the weekend comments, Asian markets fell foul of geopolitical uncertainty following the latest Russia-Ukraine developments, with the Hang Seng under pressure based on the renewed likely tariff hikes on aluminium and steel. "Mainland China was closed for a public holiday, which could leave some losses being stored up ahead of its reopening, likely exacerbated by a report which showed a further contraction in factory activity over the last month," Hunter added. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
