Capital Gains Tax Calculator UK

Each year, you have a set amount of capital gains you’re allowed to make before you’re charged any tax. This is known as your Capital Gains Tax allowance. You’ll only pay tax on the gains you make over your allowance threshold each year. What you’ll pay depends on what you’re selling and on your income. Here are the basic tax bands used for the Capital Gains Tax calculator UK. 

Here are some examples of CGT calculations:

• Your tax allowance is £6,000. You made a £15,000 gain on your property and you're on a basic rate income. You’ll pay 18% tax on a gain of £9,000
• Your tax allowance is £6,000. You made a £9,000 gain on your investments, and you're on a higher rate income. You’ll pay 20% tax on a gain of £3,000

Please note that gains are added to your income, which can push you into a higher tax band for CGT, and this is used to calculate CGT. If your gains are large, you may have to pay tax in the lower and higher tax bands.

The tax allowance is only applicable to each tax year, so if you don’t use the allowance, you can’t roll it into the next tax year.

You owe Capital Gains Tax if you sell one or more assets and your total capital gains - or profit - for the tax year is above the Capital Gains Tax allowance threshold. Anything under the allowance threshold is tax-free.

If you sold a property in the UK on or after 6 April 2020, you must report and pay any Capital Gains Tax due on UK residential property within 60 days of selling the property if the completion date was on or after 27 October 2021, or 30 days of selling the property if the completion date was between 6 April 2020 and 26 October 2021. If property was sold before 6 April 2020 then you would have paid it as part of your annual Self Assessment by 31 January in the year following the relevant tax year.

How much is Capital Gains Tax? For this tax year, which runs from 6 April 2023 - 5 April 2024, your Capital Gains Tax allowance for property is £6,000. This means you’ll pay tax on any profit you make over this amount. The allowance was cut from £12,300 in 2022 - 2023 and is due to be cut further to £3,000 for the 2024 - 2025 tax year.

For property, you’ll pay 18% if you’re on a basic rate income and 28% if you’re on a higher rate income.

If you sell your main home, you won’t owe any Capital Gains Tax. You will only pay tax if you sell a second home, such as a holiday home, or buy-to-let property. If you rent out a property that you don’t live in, you will only pay Capital Gains Tax on the profit you make over the CGT allowance.

For gains you make on selling residential property, you can declare and pay any Capital Gains Tax to HMRC online.

• If you sell your property in July 2023, and make a profit of £100,000, the gain made will come under the 2023 - 2024 tax year
• As the completion date is after 27th October 2021, you will have 60 days from selling the property to report and pay the Capital Gains Tax
• You will need to make a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account to report and pay any tax due on UK property
• You will then need to pay Capital Gains Tax on your £100,000 profit, minus any allowable cost deductions

You’re exempt from paying Capital Gains Tax on gains (or some of the gains) made from certain assets or under certain conditions, including:

• Your main residential property where you live - this is called Private Residence Relief
• Your second property if it was your main residence for a certain period - you still pay CGT when you sell a second property, but you’re exempt for the period in which you lived in the property and the last 9 months due to partial Private Residence Relief
• Your main residence where you live in the property and share occupancy with a tenant at the time of sale, and already qualify for Private Residence Relief - this is called Letting Relief
• Private motor vehicles
• Government stocks
• Lottery wins, bets, sweepstakes or prize bonds

You may also be able to deduct certain costs from your profit. For example, solicitor and estate agent fees and Stamp Duty can be deducted from the profits of a property sale - you can factor these into the Capital Gains Tax UK Calculator.

In the UK, there is currently no age restriction or automatic retirement exemption on Capital Gains Tax. For senior citizens and retirees, the usual Capital Gains Tax allowance applies unless you qualify for other exemptions or tax relief. For example, if you’re 55 or older, you may be able to qualify for an exemption on Capital Gains Tax for selling a business or farm under certain conditions. 

If you sell a second property, you'll be liable to pay Capital Gains Tax on the profit you make above your allowance. If you jointly own the property, the tax-free allowance is calculated per person, so a tax-free allowance of £24,600 applies to the sale of a jointly owned second home.

The Capital Gains tax rate is set at 18% for basic rate taxpayers and 28% for higher rate taxpayers. 

Remember, you’ll only be taxed on the profit, not the full amount of the sale. So, for example, if you bought the property for £100,000 and sold it 5 years later for £200,000, the profit would be £100,000, minus any deductible costs or tax allowances. 

Some tax allowances or deductible costs might include the following:

• Estate agent fees, solicitor fees and Stamp Duty costs
• You may be eligible for Private Residence Relief and be able to reduce your tax bill if your second home was your main residence at some point
• You may be eligible for Letting Relief if you share occupancy with a tenant when you sell the property and you already qualify for Private Residence Relief

If you gift or transfer your second home to another person, you’ll also still be liable for Capital Gains Tax, which is normally determined by the market value of the property instead of the sale price.

Try out our calculator for Capital Gains Tax to estimate how much tax you might pay on profits from a second property.