Sunny Bharj
Independent Financial Adviser
Tony Springer
Independent Financial Adviser
You pay it on the profit when you sell something that has gone up in value, and only on the part above your annual exemption.
The allowance has been cut twice in recent years and now stands at £3,000, so gains that used to disappear inside it no longer do. A holding that produced no tax bill three years ago can produce one today on exactly the same profit.
Most of what can be done about it is timing and ownership. Which tax year you sell in, whose name the asset is in, and what losses you have available all change the figure, and all of them have to be decided before you sell.
gov.uk and the HMRC Capital Gains Manual, checked 23 September 2026. 2026/27 rates.
Since 6 April 2025 residential property is charged at the same 18% and 24% as everything else, so the higher property rate that applied for years is gone. Trustees and personal representatives pay a flat 24%.
The rate you pay depends on your income, because the gain is stacked on top of it. A gain that straddles the basic rate threshold is charged partly at each rate.
Report and pay within 60 days of completion. The clock runs from completion and not from exchange, and interest and penalties follow a late return.
Reported through self assessment for the tax year of the disposal, with tax due by the following 31 January.
A loss has to be claimed within four years of the end of the tax year in which the disposal happened. Unclaimed losses are lost.
The no gain no loss treatment between spouses runs to the end of the third tax year after the year they stopped living together, or the date of the order if sooner. Transfers made under a court order or formal agreement have no time limit.
Sell shares and buy the same ones back within 30 days and the sale is matched to the repurchase. The gain you meant to crystallise largely disappears.
A disposal of shares is matched first against anything you bought on the same day, then against shares of the same class you buy in the 30 days after the sale, and only then against your pooled holding.
So selling to use your annual exemption and buying the same shares back a week later does not do what you intended. The sale is matched to the repurchase and the gain you meant to crystallise largely disappears. The window runs forwards from the sale, and it applies to a repurchase by you in the same capacity.
Selling an investment held in a taxable account and buying it back inside an ISA is a common way of dealing with an accumulated gain a bit at a time. The sale crystallises a gain that can sit inside the annual exemption, and from then on the holding grows free of capital gains tax and income tax.
Two points to be aware of. The purchase inside the ISA is made by the ISA manager in a different capacity, so it does not sit in the same pool as your personal holding. And the amount you can move each year is limited by the ISA allowance, which is £20,000 across all your ISAs.
£3,000 of gains in a tax year, after losses. The exemption is per person, so a couple have £6,000 between them where assets are held in both names.
Normally not on the home you have lived in throughout your ownership. A second property, a buy to let or a holiday home is chargeable, and those have the 60 day reporting deadline.
You can move the gain, which is legitimate and commonly sensible, because it uses their exemption and possibly their lower rate band. You cannot bank a loss that way: a loss on a transfer to a spouse cannot be claimed.
Claim it. It reduces gains in the same year and anything left carries forward indefinitely, but only if you claim it within four years of the end of the tax year of the disposal.
No capital gains tax arises on investments held inside either. That is why moving holdings into an ISA over several years is a common approach to a large accumulated gain.
Within 60 days of completion for UK residential property. For everything else, through self assessment, with payment due by the 31 January after the end of the tax year.
Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and on current rules, both of which can change. The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate tax advice. Figures are 2026/27 and a Budget is due on 28 October 2026.
£3,000 of gains a year, after losses. It is per person and it cannot be carried forward.
Read the answer →Within 60 days of completion on UK residential property. The clock runs from completion, not exchange.
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