- By Nicholas Watt
- Newsnight political editor
The Labour deputy chief addressed accusations about her tax affairs in an interview with BBC Newsnight
Angela Rayner has instructed the BBC she is the sufferer of a “smear” and has obtained skilled recommendation that she owes no tax on the sale of her house.
Labour’s deputy chief was talking in her first broadcast interview since claims emerged that she might have owed capital good points tax on the 2015 sale of a property in Stockport.
Ms Rayner instructed Newsnight there had been “no wrongdoing” and “no unlawfulness”.
She continued: “It is a non-story manufactured to try and smear me.”
Claims about Ms Rayner’s tax affairs first emerged in a biography by former Conservative Party treasurer Lord Ashcroft.
It raised questions about whether or not a home she beforehand owned was her principal residence on the time, a distinction which may have had an influence on how a lot tax she owed when it was bought.
Ms Rayner purchased the previous council home in Vicarage Road, Stockport for £79,000 in January 2007.
In September 2010 she married Mark Rayner, who owned a separate home close by in Lowndes Lane.
She has described her Vicarage Road house as her “principal house” however mentioned she did spend time at her husband’s house.
In March 2015, two months earlier than she turned an MP, Ms Rayner bought the Vicarage Road property for £127,500, a achieve of £48,500. The couple separated in 2020.
Ms Rayner instructed the BBC: “I’ve been very clear there is no guidelines damaged. They [the Conservatives] tried to fabricate a police investigation.
“They [the police] mentioned there is no points there. I received tax recommendation which says there was no capital good points tax. It’s a non-story manufactured to try to smear me.”
Ms Rayner acknowledged that she commissioned skilled tax recommendation lately after the claims about the home sale emerged.
She mentioned: “I used to be a house care employee, , I did not have an accountant. I had, as most individuals would: you place your home in the marketplace, you get a authorized conveyancing solicitor and also you get an property agent.
“But since those allegations were put to me, I got expert tax advice to make sure that I hadn’t done anything wrong.”
The tax knowledgeable Dan Neidle has estimated that Ms Rayner could possibly be answerable for a Capital Gains Tax invoice of £1,500. In a Sunday Times article he steered Ms Rayner may have averted a tax invoice if she met one among two circumstances:
- By collectively nominating with her then husband her Vicarage Road property as their predominant residence. HMRC guidelines state that married {couples} and civil companions “can only count one property as their main home at any one time”.
- Spending £15,000 or extra on house enhancements on the Vicarage Road house earlier than promoting it.
The Labour deputy chief acknowledged that on the time of the sale of her home in 2015 she was not conscious of the HMRC guidelines cited by Mr Neidle, which state married {couples} or civil companions can solely rely one property as their predominant residence.
Ms Rayner instructed Newsnight: “No, I wasn’t conscious of the HMRC guidelines… after I bought that property.
“As I say, I bought it as most individuals would advertise, received the solicitor and the property brokers, and so forth. since these allegations have been put to me, the tax legal guidelines on capital good points tax and principal non-public residency, and so forth. may be very complicated, together with marriage.
“I got that advice that is categoric that I do not owe any capital gains tax on that.”
Asked whether or not she had met one of many two circumstances outlined by Mr Neidle, Ms Rayner declined to reply these factors intimately. She insisted she owed no tax.
She continued: “I believe what Dan was saying and he acknowledged that, look, she may owe nothing, truly, as a result of the foundations are complicated and these are numerous other ways to which it is calculated.
“But I received again that knowledgeable recommendation as a result of if I did owe any capital good points tax, I’d have mentioned and I’d have paid it.
“But I don’t owe any capital gains tax because of the circumstances. And I’ve gone through that with a tax expert, and they’ve given me that advice.”
