Your home – when you sell your main residence this is usually exempt from any capital gains tax. If you have two homes you have two years from the date you buy it to make an election that states it should be regarded as your main residence for capital gains tax exemption. Once you make an election it can be changed at any time.
Annual exemptions – Husbands and wives are both entitled to an annual exemption allowance. Exactly how much this allowance is, depends on the tax year in which the asset is sold. It may well be worth distributing your shares and assets between you and your spouse in order to make the most of these allowances.
Timing – The annual allowance above is available for each and every tax year so it may well be worth selling assets over different tax years to ensure you get allowances on each of them. Also, the amount of capital gains tax you pay depends on the level of your income so it would be better to dispose of any assets in a tax year where your income is lower so that you can pay a lower rate of tax.
