Tax For Disposal Of Berlin Property

[Gizmondo]

Hi,

I purchased an apartment with my fiance in 2009. It is the only property that I own anywhere and I am selling it in the hope of buying an apartment here in Ireland.

My Irish accountant informs me that I will not have to pay tax on the sale of the property in Ireland as it is our primary property and thinks that the same will apply in Germany. Does anyone know if this will be the case? If not, what would we be dealing with?

A bit of background info for our situation..... We lived in the apartment for a while before moving back to Ireland. Since then we have rented the apartment but we have been back and stayed there on numerous occasions. We hope to buy a place now in Dublin as renting seems like dead money.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Joe_90]

Gains for the period that it was your Principle Private Residence plus the last 12 months are exempt.

As you have not given the dates it's not possible to advise whether you have a liability or not.

I don't know anything about CGT in Germany so can't comment on that.

 

[murphaph]

You should ask your German specific question in the Finance section on www.toytowngermany.com. There are plenty of knowledgable folks there who can help. I suspect you have a CGT liability in Germany as the property has been rented out (and I'm assuming the Finanzamt knows about it as you've been doing German tax returns covering the rental income, right?) since you bought it. Germany has a 10 year rule: hold any property for > 10 years and no CGT is not due, hold it for less and if it wasn't your home, CGT is due. The idea is to prevent short term property speculation (flipping) I believe.