Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 1028

Married persons

Section 1028 sets out the rules for assessing married couples to capital gains tax, including joint and separate assessment, the transfer of losses between spouses, the treatment of disposals of assets between spouses, and the base cost rules on subsequent disposals.

• Where spouses are living together, the husband is assessed on the combined chargeable gains of both spouses, but the total tax charged must not exceed what would have been charged had each spouse been assessed separately
• Either spouse may apply for separate assessment on or before 1 April in the year following the relevant tax year, and allowable losses of one spouse may be set against the chargeable gains of the other
• A disposal of an asset between spouses (other than trading stock) is treated as made for a consideration giving rise to no gain and no loss, and this rule overrides any deemed market value provisions
• Where a spouse subsequently disposes of an asset acquired from the other spouse, the acquiring spouse is treated as having acquired it at the time and cost at which the disposing spouse originally acquired it