Capital Gains Tax Calculator UK 2026

The Annual Exempt Amount for 2026 is £3,000 for individuals. This is the amount of capital gains you can make in a tax year before any CGT is due. For most trusts, the allowance is £1,500. This allowance cannot be carried forward to a future tax year, if you don’t use it, it is lost.

Capital gains tax on property (for residential property that is not your main home, such as buy-to-let or a second home) is charged at 18% if you are a basic rate taxpayer and 24% if you are a higher or additional rate taxpayer. Your main home is normally exempt from CGT under Private Residence Relief. Any CGT due on a property sale must be reported and paid within 60 days of completion.

Capital gains tax on shares is calculated by subtracting what you paid for the shares (plus any allowable dealing costs) from what you sold them for. You then deduct any losses made on other disposals, apply your £3,000 Annual Exempt Amount, and apply the relevant CGT rate, 18% for basic rate taxpayers or 24% for higher rate taxpayers in 2026. For shares held within a Stocks and Shares ISA, no CGT applies at all.

There are several ways to legally reduce or avoid Capital Gains Tax in the UK. You can use your annual £3,000 exempt amount each year, invest through a Stocks and Shares ISA (where gains are entirely CGT-free), transfer assets to your spouse or civil partner to use their allowance, offset capital losses against gains, increase pension contributions to lower your taxable income, and claim reliefs like Private Residence Relief or Business Asset Disposal Relief where applicable. None of these are tax avoidance, they are government-approved mechanisms.

In most cases, no. If the property has been your only or main home for the entire time you have owned it and you have not let it out or used part of it exclusively for business, you will qualify for full Private Residence Relief. This means the entire gain is exempt from CGT. However, if you have let the property, have very large grounds, or it has not been your home for the full period of ownership, a partial CGT liability may arise.

Failing to report or pay CGT on time will result in penalties and interest from HMRC. For residential property, CGT must be reported and paid within 60 days of completion, missing this deadline results in an automatic £100 late filing penalty, with further penalties for longer delays. For other assets, failure to report through Self Assessment by 31 January will also attract penalties. HMRC has significant data-gathering powers and regularly matches property sale data, investment records, and Companies House filings to identify unreported gains.

Yes. Capital losses made in the same tax year must be offset against capital gains before applying the Annual Exempt Amount. Losses from previous tax years can be carried forward indefinitely and used in future years when you make gains, but they must first be registered with HMRC by completing a Self Assessment tax return or writing to HMRC within four years of the end of the tax year in which the loss was made.

Yes. HMRC treats cryptocurrency as a capital asset, not currency. Any gain you make from selling, swapping, gifting, or spending cryptocurrency is subject to Capital Gains Tax. The same rates and annual allowance apply as for other assets: 18% for basic rate taxpayers and 24% for higher rate taxpayers in 2026, with a £3,000 annual exempt amount. You also need to keep detailed records of the acquisition cost and disposal proceeds for every transaction.

Since April 2020, anyone who sells a UK residential property and has a Capital Gains Tax liability must report and pay the tax within 60 days of the completion date. This is done through HMRC’s ‘Capital Gains Tax on UK Property’ online service — it is completely separate from your annual Self Assessment tax return. Even if you later file a Self Assessment, you still need to meet the 60-day deadline. Missing it results in automatic penalties and interest.

Yes, in most cases. When you give an asset to someone other than your spouse or civil partner, HMRC treats it as a disposal at market value for CGT purposes — even though you received no money. This means you could have a CGT liability based on the asset’s current market value compared to what you paid for it. Gifts to spouses and civil partners are free from CGT, as are gifts to registered charities. Gifts of your main home are exempt under Private Residence Relief, although any chargeable element (such as a portion used for letting) may still attract CGT.

Business Asset isposal Relief (BADR), formerly known as Entrepreneurs’ Relief, is a reduced rate of Capital Gains Tax available when you sell all or part of your business. The qualifying CGT rate is 14% for disposals from 6 April 2025 (rising to 18% from 6 April 2026), rather than the standard 18% or 24%. To qualify, you must have owned the business or shares for at least two years, it must be a trading company, and you must have held at least 5% of the shares and voting rights. The relief covers lifetime qualifying gains of up to £1 million.

Yes. Since April 2019, non-UK residents must pay CGT on gains from disposing of any UK land and property, both residential and commercial. The 60-day reporting rule also applies to non-residents for residential property sales. In most cases, non-resident individuals still benefit from the £3,000 Annual Exempt Amount, though this does not apply to companies. Non-residents should also be aware that the gain is calculated from April 2019 values (not the original purchase price) unless they elect to use the original cost basis.

For most assets, including shares, crypto, and non-residential property, yes. You report your capital gains for the tax year in the capital gains section of your Self Assessment tax return, and any CGT owed is payable by 31 January following the end of the tax year. The exception is UK residential property gains, which must be reported and paid within 60 days of completion using a separate HMRC online service. However, the gains must also be included in your Self Assessment return if you file one.

HMRC requires you to keep records that support the figures in your CGT calculation. For property, this includes the original purchase contract, stamp duty receipts, solicitor invoices, receipts for improvement work, and the sale completion statement. For shares and investments, you need dealing confirmations showing the number of shares, purchase and sale prices, and dealing costs. HMRC can enquire into past returns, so it is advisable to keep records for at least six years after the end of the tax year to which they relate.

Yes. Your £3,000 Annual Exempt Amount applies to your total net gains across all assets for the tax year, not per asset. This means if you sold three different assets and made gains on each, you add all the gains together, deduct any losses, and then apply the single £3,000 allowance. You only pay CGT on the amount that exceeds £3,000 in total. This makes it worth planning which assets to dispose of in a given year, particularly if gains from multiple sources are relatively small.