My husband and I are getting divorced. We bought a pub together approximately ten years ago, but the whole property was put in my name. As we go through the divorce, I need to transfer 50% of the shares to my husband. Would he/I have to pay capital gains tax (CGT) on this?

Arthur Weller replies:
Have a look at HMRC’s Capital Gains manual at pages CG22020 and CG65310. It could be that your husband has 50% of the beneficial ownership of the pub, even though he is not a legal owner. If this is the case, there would be no CGT in simply making him a 50% legal owner. Assuming that approach does not work, if you transfer to him in a tax year in which the two of you lived together, even if you only lived together for part of the year, then there will be no CGT for you to pay; see the page CG22202.