Many people wonder about the tax treatment of their UK property when they go overseas.

Although the non UK residence provisions could exempt a gain, if these will not apply (eg only a short absence overseas) you would need to consider whether you would be entitled to principal private residence relief ('PPR').

Where an individual has occupied a property as a residence for only part of his period of ownership then a proportion of the capital gain resulting on the disposal of the property is exempt. This is calculated on the following basis:

Capital gain x period of occupation/period of ownership

In addition to the period that an individual actually occupies a property as his residence, when calculating the period of occupation there are certain deemed periods of occupation which are allowed to be taken into account.

As a general rule the last 36 months of ownership would be deemed to be occupied by you irrespective of whether you actually occupied the property during this period. Please note that this relief will only apply where the property has been your main residence at some point during your ownership.

There are also further deemed periods in addition to the last 36 months of ownership that can apply for absences overseas. In additon if the property is let you may also be entitled to lettings relief.

Therefore, if you go overseas temporarily and let your property while you are working you should be entitled to PPR relief/lettings relief to eliminate/reduce any UK gain.