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CGT calculator

What the taxman takes out of the gain, at the rate it is actually charged at

A gain does not have a rate of its own. It sits on top of your income, and whatever is left of the basic rate band is taxed at eighteen per cent with the rest at twenty four. The same forty thousand pound gain is taxed very differently depending on what you earned that year, which is why income is an input here and why selling in the right tax year is worth money. It is payable within sixty days of completion.

For: Selling anything that is not your only home

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The disposal
£
£
If you inherited it, use the probate value rather than what the deceased paid. If it was a gift, use the market value on the day it was given to you.
£
Improvements only, and they have to still be there at the point of sale. An extension counts. A new kitchen replacing an old one is a repair, not an improvement, and eight years of maintenance and redecoration count for nothing. Keep the invoices: no evidence, no deduction.
£
Stamp duty, legal fees and the survey. All deductible, and all routinely forgotten because they were paid years ago.
£
Agent commission, conveyancing and the EPC.
Who is selling
Is it held in a company?
An individual, so capital gains tax at 18% and 24% with the £3,000 annual exemption.
£
This is what splits the gain between the two rates. Whatever is left of the basic rate band at £50,270 is taxed at 18%, and everything above it at 24%. Selling in a year when your income is lower is worth real money.
£
Other gains this tax year: shares, a second disposal, crypto. The £3,000 is one allowance across everything.
£
Capital losses from earlier years, carried forward. They have to have been reported to HMRC within four years of the year they arose to be usable.
Do you have a spouse or civil partner?
Selling in your own name only.
Was it ever your home?No relief
Private residence relief covers the period it was your only or main home, plus the final nine months whatever it was being used for then.
Did you live in it as your main home?
A pure investment, so the whole gain is chargeable.
Tax on the gain£22,436A gain of £97,800, leaving £97,800 chargeable after the £3,000 annual exemption is applied. You keep £75,364 of it, an effective rate of 22.9% on the whole gain. Payable within 60 days of completion, not at the end of the tax year.
£97,800Gain before reliefs
£97,800Chargeable
£22,436Tax
£75,364You keep
£2,536Splitting would save
You keep77%Tax23%
Working out the gain
Sale price£310,000
Less what you paid−£178,000
Less improvements−£22,000
Capital improvements still present at sale. Repairs and maintenance do not count.
Less costs of buying and selling−£12,200
Gain£97,800
How it is taxed
Annual exemption−£3,000
£3,000 for 2026/27, down from £12,300 three years ago.
Chargeable gain£97,800
At 18%£949
£5,270 of gain, using the £5,270 of basic rate band your income leaves.
At 24%£21,487
£89,530 of gain above the basic rate band.
Capital gains tax£22,436
Reportable and payable within 60 days of completion. A separate return, not part of your usual self assessment, and the late filing penalties start immediately.
What would change it
Holding it jointly with a spouse−£2,536
Two annual exemptions and two basic rate bands. Transfers between spouses are on a no gain, no loss basis, so the transfer itself is not taxable, but it has to happen before contracts are exchanged rather than afterwards.
Selling in a year with no other income£20,490
£1,946 less than at your current income. Timing a disposal into a low income year, or across two tax years, is one of the few genuinely simple pieces of planning available.
Splitting the sale across two tax years£21,400
Only possible where there is more than one asset, or a property held in shares that can be disposed of separately. It buys a second annual exemption.
The 60 day deadline60 days from completion
Both the return and the payment. This catches people who have already committed the proceeds to the next purchase, which is exactly when a large tax bill is least convenient.
Where these figures come from

Rates. 18% and 24% on residential property for 2026/27. Both rates have applied to property and other assets alike since 30 October 2024. The annual exempt amount is £3,000.

How the split works. The gain sits on top of income. Whatever remains of the basic rate band, which ends at £50,270, is taxed at 18% and the balance at 24%.

Reporting. UK residents disposing of residential property where tax is due must file a return and pay within 60 days of completion.

Reliefs. Private residence relief covers the period of occupation as an only or main residence plus the final nine months of ownership. Lettings relief has been restricted since April 2020 to cases where the owner shared occupancy with the tenant, capped at the lower of £40,000 and the private residence relief.

Companies pay corporation tax on chargeable gains: 19% to £50,000, 25% above £250,000, with marginal relief between. No annual exemption applies.

A simplified calculation for a single UK-resident individual or a UK company. It does not model non-residence, trusts, business asset disposal relief, gift holdover, incorporation relief, mixed use property apportionment, or a disposal that is trading income rather than a capital gain, which is what a deliberate flip usually is. Improvements must still be present at the point of sale and must be evidenced, so keep the invoices from the day the work is done. Transfers between spouses are on a no gain, no loss basis but have to be completed before contracts are exchanged. An estimate, not tax advice, and the calculation to take to an accountant rather than a substitute for one.

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