I have recently had to sell my house for a £15,000 loss on what I paid for it. I pay income tax in the higher band. Can I offset this loss against my income and as a result pay less income tax for this year?

Arthur Weller replies:
Unfortunately, you can't. I presume that you are not trading in houses so this house that you sold was either your home or an investment asset. If so, a loss on its sale is called a capital loss and can only be offset against capital gains, and not against income. Actually, if you look at www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/capital-gains- manual/cg65080 you can see that a loss on a principal private residence is not an allowable loss