Contents
- Contents; Introduction
- Record Keeping
- Summary
Introduction
While good record keeping practices are often very hard to find, record keeping in relation to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) must be one of the least thought about areas. Often, it is years after a transaction that the records required to calculate the cost base are needed and dug out of a dusty old box – if that box can ever be found. In addition, there may have been a series of events that have occurred since the original transaction (improvements, capital allowances, value shifting) that have had an effect on the cost base of a CGT asset and records on each of these issues must also be found.
These problems arise because we are often too busy handling today’s issues rather than worrying about records we may need in the future. Likewise, we may not want to spend time calculating a change in the cost base of an asset, when we may only need that information should the event actually arise. But we all know the problems involved in having to find these records when they were not collected at the time of the original transaction.
I have summarised below the main record keeping requirements in relation to CGT and how the process can be simplified.
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