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 annual exemption has been cut twice in recent years and is now £3,000.
The tax year you sell in, whose name the asset is in and the losses you have available all change the bill, and each has to be settled 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.
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.
If you sell to use your annual exemption and buy the same shares back a week later, 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 deals 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.
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. 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 any losses. Above that you pay 18% on gains falling within your remaining basic rate band and 24% on the rest. The full answer.
Within 60 days of completing the sale of UK residential property, through a separate return. The deadline runs from completion and not from exchange, and interest and penalties follow a late return. The full answer.
£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, so that 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.
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.
The tax on the gain from selling your shares, with Business Asset Disposal Relief at 18% up to the £1 million lifetime limit.
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