UK Capital Gains Tax Calculator 2026/27

How the calculation works

1. Gain = sale price − purchase price − allowable costs (legal, improvements, broker / estate-agent fees).
2. Taxable gain = gain − £3,000 Annual Exempt Amount (AEA).
3. Stacking: the taxable gain sits on top of your other income. Any part that fits inside your remaining basic-rate Income Tax band (up to £50,270) is taxed at 18%; the rest is taxed at 24%.
4. BADR (if you claim it): the gain is taxed at a flat 18% up to £1 million of qualifying lifetime gains. From 2026/27 onwards this matches the basic-rate CGT — so BADR only saves tax for higher-rate taxpayers (a 6-percentage-point saving).

How UK Capital Gains Tax works in 2026/27

Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is charged on the PROFIT when you dispose of an asset for more than you paid for it - not on the total sale price. “Dispose” covers selling, giving away, swapping, or losing (insurance payout). Four moving parts for 2026/27:

1. Annual Exempt Amount (AEA) £3,000 for individuals, tax-free regardless of asset type. Frozen since 2024/25 (was £12,300 in 2022/23, £6,000 in 2023/24). Use it or lose it - no carry-forward. Trustees get half, £1,500, and there is no AEA at all for anyone claiming the foreign income and gains regime or Overseas Workday Relief.
2. Rates 18% basic-rate / 24% higher-rate for individuals on most assets. The alignment happened in two steps, and commentary often gets the direction backwards: residential property fell from 18%/28% to 18%/24% on 6 April 2024, then on 30 October 2024 the other-asset rates rose from 10%/20% to meet it. Not everything sits at 18%/24%: carried interest is 32% for individuals from 6 April 2025, and trustees and personal representatives pay a flat 24%.
3. BADR (Business Asset Disposal Relief) 18% flat on first £1m lifetime gains from qualifying business disposals. Up from 14% in 2025/26 and 10% pre-April 2025.
4. Reporting Self Assessment by 31 January following the tax year, or HMRC’s real-time CGT service by 31 December following the tax year if you are not otherwise in Self Assessment. EXCEPTION: UK residential property disposals must be reported + paid within 60 days of completion via HMRC’s “Report and pay CGT on UK property” online service.

CGT band stacking against your income

CGT is calculated by treating the taxable gain as the TOP SLICE of your total income for the year. The basic-rate band ceiling is £50,270 (Income Tax + CGT combined). Gain falling into remaining basic-rate space is taxed at 18%; gain above the £50,270 ceiling is taxed at 24%.

Worked example - £45,000 salary + £30,000 taxable gain (after AEA):

The single best CGT planning tool is timing disposals across tax years to keep each year’s gains within basic-rate band space. Couples can each use their own AEA + basic-rate space by transferring assets between spouses before disposal (no-gain-no-loss transfer under Section 58 TCGA 1992).

Asset types and treatment

The 18%/24% rates apply to most asset categories for individuals, with carried interest (32%) and trustees (flat 24%) outside them. Distinct rules apply to share matching, business relief, and reporting deadlines.

Listed shares + unit trusts + investment funds

Standard 18%/24% rates. Share identification rules under Sections 104, 105 and 106A TCGA 1992:

• Same-day rule - acquisitions on same day as disposal matched first
• Bed and breakfast rule - acquisitions in 30 days FOLLOWING the disposal matched second (prevents bed-and-breakfasting losses)
• Section 104 pool - all remaining shares pooled at average cost

The Section 104 pool is critical for long-term holdings - acquisitions spread over decades are averaged to a single cost basis per share.

Cryptoassets (Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, NFTs)

HMRC treats cryptoassets as property for CGT (HMRC Cryptoassets Manual, published 30 March 2021). Every disposal is a taxable event:

• Selling crypto for fiat (GBP / USD)
• Swapping one crypto for another
• Spending crypto on goods/services
• Gifting crypto (except to spouse)

Same share-matching pooling rules apply. Standard 18%/24% rates. Annual gains aggregated across ALL crypto disposals + reported via SA. Mining and staking rewards are typically Income Tax rather than CGT - see CRYPTO21150 (mining) and CRYPTO21200 (staking), which treats the sterling value of tokens at the time of receipt as miscellaneous income.

Second homes, buy-to-let, holiday lets

Standard 18%/24% rates. The residential higher rate was 28% until 5 April 2024 and has been 24% since 6 April 2024. 60-day reporting deadline applies. Allowable deductions include: legal fees on acquisition + disposal, stamp duty paid on purchase, capital improvements (extensions, loft conversions - NOT routine repairs which are revenue expenses).

Main residence (Private Residence Relief)

Exempt from CGT for periods you occupied as only or main residence, PLUS the final 9 months of ownership (Section 222 + 223 TCGA 1992). Pre-April 2020 final period was 18 months. Letting relief was restricted to “shared occupancy” cases from April 2020.

Business assets - BADR

Qualifying disposals get 18% flat rate (2026/27 onwards) on first £1m lifetime gains. Conditions:

• Trading business (not investment), held 2 years pre-disposal
• 5%+ ordinary share capital and 5%+ voting rights, plus (from Finance Act 2019) either 5% of distributable profits and of assets on a winding up, or 5% of the proceeds on a notional disposal of the whole company in the company
• Officer or employee for 2 years pre-disposal
• Sale of whole business OR shares in personal company

Lifetime limit is per individual - couples can each claim. Excess gains above £1m taxed at standard 18%/24%.

Annual Exempt Amount and loss relief

The £3,000 AEA is automatic - no claim needed. Applied against gains in any order most advantageous to you. After AEA exhausted:

Losses of the same tax year must be set against that year’s gains in full, before the AEA, so a large in-year loss can waste some or all of the AEA. Losses brought forward work differently: they are restricted to whatever is needed to reduce gains to the AEA, so they never waste it, and the unused balance carries forward indefinitely (Sections 1E, 1I and 3 TCGA 1992; Section 16 covers the computation of losses themselves).

Loss claim deadline - a loss must be notified within 4 years of the end of the tax year in which it arose. Section 16(2A) TCGA 1992 requires the notice and applies Sections 42 and 43 of the Taxes Management Act 1970; the 4-year limit itself is in TMA 1970 Section 43. Claim on SA return SA108 + supporting computation.

Worked example - mix of gains and losses:

Reporting deadlines and Self Assessment

Standard CGT reporting via Self Assessment SA108:

• Online SA return deadline 31 January following tax year
• Paper SA return deadline 31 October following tax year
• Payment with balancing payment by 31 January

60-day residential property reporting (Finance Act 2019 Schedule 2, as amended by Finance Act 2022 Section 23):

• UK residential property disposal MUST be reported within 60 days of completion. The regime began at 30 days for completions from 6 April 2020; the window was extended to 60 days for completions on or after 27 October 2021
• Filed via HMRC’s “Report and pay Capital Gains Tax on UK property” online service (separate from main SA)
• Tax payable within same 60-day window
• Late filing penalties follow Schedule 55 FA 2009: £100 immediately, then at 6 months and again at 12 months the greater of 5% of the tax that would have been shown on the return and £300. Daily £10 penalties exist in the schedule but require HMRC to issue a notice first, so they do not arise automatically on these returns. Interest runs on the tax

You can choose to file 60-day return AND include the disposal on the following annual SA return (with appropriate credit for tax already paid) - this becomes mandatory if you’re already required to file SA for other reasons.

Common planning techniques

Spousal transfer + double AEA: Assets transferred between UK-resident spouses are no-gain-no-loss (Section 58 TCGA 1992). Transfer before disposal to use both AEAs (£6,000 combined) + both basic-rate bands.

Cross-year disposal timing: split large disposals across tax years to use multiple AEAs. Disposing on 5 April 2027 vs 6 April 2027 uses different tax years’ AEAs.

Pension contribution to extend basic-rate band: pension contributions extend the basic-rate band threshold for the year - more of your gain falls into the 18% band rather than 24%.

Bed and Individual Savings Account (ISA) / bed and Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP): sell taxable holding, buy back in ISA or SIPP wrapper. Triggers CGT on disposal but future growth is tax-free. Watch the 30-day bed-and-breakfast rule prevents repurchasing the same share class within 30 days for loss relief, but doesn’t prevent the ISA-wrapping itself.

Gift hold-over (Section 165 TCGA 1992): gifts of business assets or unlisted shares can be elected to roll the gain into the recipient’s base cost (hold-over election). Useful for family business succession.

Charitable gift: gifting qualifying investments - listed shares, units in an authorised unit trust or OEIC, or land - to a UK charity is exempt from CGT (Section 257 TCGA 1992). Gift Aid does not apply to gifts of land, property or shares; it is a cash-donation scheme. The Income Tax relief instead works by deducting the value of the gift from your total taxable income, claimed in the ‘Charitable giving’ section of the Self Assessment return.

Foreign residents and CGT

Non-UK residents are LIABLE to UK CGT on:

• UK residential property (since 6 April 2015 - NRCGT)
• UK commercial property (since 6 April 2019)
• “Property-rich” companies (75%+ assets in UK land) since 6 April 2019

Non-residents are NOT liable to UK CGT on:

• UK listed shares, unless the disposal is made through a UK branch or agency (Section 1B TCGA 1992) or the temporary non-residence rule bites
• Disposals of non-UK assets

Temporary non-residents - a period of non-residence of five years or less - are caught by anti-avoidance rules in Section 1M TCGA 1992 (the old Section 10A was emptied when Part 1 was rewritten by Finance Act 2019). Gains realised during the temporary non-residence period may be taxed on return to the UK.

Frequently confused with Income Tax

CGT is on PROFIT from disposal of a capital asset held as investment. INCOME TAX is on income from work, business, rental, savings, dividends.

Common border cases:

• Property dealing (regular buying + selling for profit) = Income Tax trade not CGT investment
• Crypto trading (high-frequency, structured business activity) = MIGHT be Income Tax (HMRC rare to apply this)
• Share trading as business = MIGHT be Income Tax (HMRC even rarer)
• Furnished Holiday Lettings - some IT treatment historically but FHL regime abolished from April 2025

For nearly all individuals the default treatment is CGT. The Income Tax “trade” treatment requires HMRC-recognised trading activity at substantial scale.

Related calculators and guides

• CGT on shares calculator - share-specific CGT with Section 104 pool examples
• CGT on second home calculator - second property with 60-day reporting
• Crypto tax UK guide - cryptoassets full breakdown
• BADR guide - Business Asset Disposal Relief 18% flat
• CGT allowance 2026/27 guide - £3,000 AEA explained
• UK CGT rules guide - complete CGT rules reference
• Self-employed expenses checklist - allowable costs for business disposals
• SEIS / EIS investor guide - CGT exemption + deferral for SEIS / EIS investments
• UK IHT rules - CGT base reset on inherited assets

Sources

Rates and allowances verified against the gov.uk Capital Gains Tax rates page, retrieved 2026-08-28.

• GOV.UK - Capital Gains Tax rates and allowances
• GOV.UK - Report and pay Capital Gains Tax on UK property
• GOV.UK - Donating land, property or shares to charity
• HMRC Cryptoassets Manual CRYPTO21200 (staking)
• TCGA 1992
• Schedule 55 Finance Act 2009 (late filing penalties)

Statutory basis in TCGA 1992: Section 1H (the main rates of CGT), Section 1K (annual exempt amount), Sections 1E, 1I and 3 (losses and the order of set-off), Section 16 (computation of losses), Section 58 (spousal no-gain-no-loss), Sections 104, 105 and 106A (share pooling, same-day and 30-day identification), Sections 169H to 169V (business asset disposal relief), Section 165 (hold-over relief), Sections 222 and 223 (private residence relief), Section 257 (gifts to charities), Section 1B (non-UK residents trading through a UK branch or agency) and Section 1M (temporary non-residents). The 60-day property return is Finance Act 2019 Schedule 2, as amended by Finance Act 2022 Section 23.