Capital gains tax reporting
On this page, we discuss what reporting obligations you have where you make a disposal on which capital gains tax (CGT) is chargeable. In some cases, you may be required to report the disposal to HMRC (and potentially pay the tax) within 60 days.
Content on this page:
Overview
If you normally complete a tax return, generally you report your capital gains on a self assessment tax return, using the capital gains pages. If you usually submit a paper tax return, you can find the specific pages on GOV.UK.
You need to use these pages if either:
- Your gains (before deducting any losses) for the year are more than the annual exempt amount (£3,000 for 2024/25, £6,000 for 2023/24).
- Your sales proceeds are more than £50,000, even if your gains are less than the annual exempt amount.
However, you do not have to complete the capital gains pages if your only disposal is of your home and main residence relief applies on the full amount of the gain. We discuss this in detail at Selling your home.
If you have a CGT liability, then this will normally be payable via self assessment and by the normal due date for self assessment. However, there are exceptions to this where the disposal falls within the separate 60-day reporting rules for UK land and property.
UK land and property – 60-day reporting
If you make a disposal of UK land and property, you may also need to report the disposal of the property to HMRC on a separate 60-day reporting form and pay CGT within 60 days of the date of completion.
Disposals of UK land and property by non-residents
If you make the disposal as a non-resident, you should report it within 60 days, even if there is no tax to pay. This applies to disposals of all UK land and property by non-residents, not just residential property. If there is any tax to pay, then it is also due within 60 days. There is information about this on GOV.UK.
Disposals of UK residential property by UK residents
UK residents disposing of UK residential property should also report it within 60 days, unless there is no tax to pay. Any tax due on the gain should also be paid within 60 days.
You are required to report these disposals within 60 days even if you intend to file a self assessment tax return for that year at some later point. We give further information below on how to make the report.
However, there is an exception to this in certain cases where a self assessment return is filed before the 60-day reporting deadline, or when the self assessment return deadline falls before the 60-day deadline. For more information, see below under Reporting via self assessment before 60 day deadline.
The usual position can be summarised in the following table:
Table A
| UK tax residence status | Asset type | Required to report the disposal within 60 days? | Deadline for paying tax |
| Resident | UK residential property | Only if there is tax to pay | 60 days |
| Anything other than UK residential property | No | 31 January following the end of the tax year | |
| Non-resident | UK land and property | Yes | 60 days* |
| Anything other than UK land and property | No | N/A |
*CGT for non-residents may not apply to the whole gain. If not, you may have to pay more tax if you return to the UK after a period of temporary non-residence. See our guidance for more information.
Making a 60-day report
You should create a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account using your government gateway user ID, if you have one. If you do not have a government gateway ID, then you will need to create one when you first sign in.
If you receive an error message when you are trying to create a CGT on UK property account, HMRC say you should review and update your address in your personal tax account. If you live in the UK, check that the postcode field is correctly populated. If you live outside the UK, check that the country field is correctly populated.
HMRC expect taxpayers to use the digital service by default. However, if you are uncomfortable or unable to complete the digital return, you can download a paper form for tax years from 2022/23. If you need a paper form for a disposal in an earlier year, you should phone HMRC. Note that, in some circumstances, you must file on paper.
If you need extra support in dealing with your taxes, you should contact HMRC and explain your circumstances. If appropriate, they may assist you in completing the form over the phone.
The 60-day deadline to file the return will still apply, so you should act quickly to avoid penalties. You do not have to wait until you have sold the property before contacting HMRC.
When posting a paper form back to HMRC:
- Keep a copy of it, if possible.
- Post it in good time to meet the deadline.
- Consider using a signed-for postal service or ask the Post Office for a proof of postage in case HMRC say that they did not receive the form.
If you send a paper form to HMRC, they should inform you of how and when to pay once they process the form. HMRC may take several weeks to do this, and it is not possible to pay the CGT before you have been provided with the appropriate payment reference. It is important that you make the payment with the correct reference: you should not use your unique taxpayer reference (UTR) as it may not be allocated correctly. We understand you should be given 30 days from the date that HMRC process the form to make the payment before late payment interest will accrue.
In both cases, we recommend completing the necessary steps as soon as possible.
If you need help, see our Getting help page. If you are on a low income, you can contact one of the tax charities for assistance. Alternatively, you can ask a paid tax adviser to complete the report for you. If you do this, you will need to provide them with specific authority to do so (the adviser should explain what you need to do) or, if you are unable to do this, by contacting HMRC.
Missing the 60-day reporting deadline
If you made a disposal for which you were required to file a 60-day report, but you did not file that report in time, HMRC say that you should still file that report late before reporting the disposal on your self assessment tax return.
If you have already filed your self assessment tax return but you did not file the necessary 60-day report, you will need to file that report on paper.
In either case, HMRC may charge late submission penalties depending on how late the 60-day report is. However, HMRC have confirmed they will not charge daily penalties for late 60-day reports.
Calculating CGT when making a 60-day report
As we explain on our main CGT page, the rate of CGT payable depends on your other taxable income in the year. If you have a gain for which you need to file a 60-day return, you might not know before you need to file the return which rate is applicable – or if a mix of rates applies, you might not know how much of the gain is charged at the lower rate.
In this situation, all you are required to do is make a reasonable estimate of your other taxable income, so that you can determine which rate applies, or what proportion of the gain is chargeable at the lower rates. Therefore, provided the estimate is reasonable, you should not face any penalties for an inaccurate 60-day return. You should keep records to evidence that your estimate of your other taxable income is a reasonable one.
Once you know your taxable income for the year, you should recalculate the CGT due and report the disposal on a self assessment tax return (unless the CGT already paid happened to be correct and you had no other reason to file a tax return for the year). Alternatively, you may submit an amended 60-day return at the time ‘it becomes reasonable to make a different estimate’ of your income. You are not required to make such an additional return in this situation, but it may mean you avoid having to complete and submit a self assessment tax return.
Provided you pay the CGT calculated (using the reasonable estimate) on time, no late-payment interest should apply if the estimate turns out to be too low and you pay any difference by the normal self assessment due date.
Late-payment penalties can apply to late-paid CGT, but these are calculated by reference to the normal self assessment filing dates (therefore these would be payable from 30 days after the 31 January following the end of tax year).
If the estimated tax turns out to be too high, you should be eligible for a repayment supplement (interest) on amounts overpaid from the later of the date of payment and the normal self assessment due date (for 2023/24, this would be 31 January 2025).
Amounts of CGT overpaid in-year should be offset automatically against other self assessment amounts due. However, if the overpaid CGT exceeds your other self assessment amounts due, you will need to contact HMRC to request the repayment of the excess. For more information, please see HMRC’s manual.
Multiple disposals in a year
When calculating the CGT payable with a 60-day return, you should ignore both of the following:
- disposals which have a later completion date
- disposals on other types of asset on which gains accrue
You can therefore account for losses which arise prior to the completion date of the disposal. Relief for later losses should usually be dealt with via self assessment.
If, before filing a 60-day report, you have already claimed relief for later losses on a self assessment tax return, see the heading Reporting via self assessment before 60-day deadline.
Reporting a capital gain if you do not complete a self assessment tax return
If you do not normally need to complete a self assessment tax return, then how you report any capital gain will depend on whether you have made a disposal of property which requires you to complete a return within 60 days of completion of the disposal.
Disposals for which a return is not required within 60 days
If the disposal is not of UK land and property, then you have a choice.
You can report your gains using a ‘real time’ online service on GOV.UK if you are UK resident. Using this service is optional and the gains can be reported at any time after the disposal up to 31 December after the tax year when you had the gains. For example, if you disposed of an asset and made a gain in January 2024, this would fall in the 2023/24 tax year (which ended on 5 April 2024), and you would be able to report the gain using the ‘real time’ service up to 31 December 2024.
You need a government gateway account to use this service, which you can set up as part of the reporting process. If you report your gains in this way, you will activate your personal tax account, if you have not already activated this. This means you do not need to wait until after the end of the tax year to report your gains in a tax return.
If you use this service to report your gains, you will not need to file a self assessment tax return for that year assuming you have no other reason to do so. However, if you do need to file a self assessment tax return then you will need to report the gains again on that tax return.
If you choose not to use the ‘real time’ service, you will need to contact HMRC and register for self assessment by completing form SA1, or by contacting HMRC. You should do this by 5 October following the end of the tax year for which you have CGT to pay (or losses that you want to notify to HMRC for carrying forward).
If you are unlikely to need to complete a tax return again in the future, as soon as you have sent in this tax return, contact HMRC requesting that you be removed from self assessment so that they do not keep sending you tax returns to complete.
Disposals of UK land or property where a return is required within 60 days
If you are required to complete a return within 60 days of completion of the disposal of UK land or property, whether or not you are UK resident, you should use HMRC’s Report and pay CGT on UK property service. It is possible to complete this on paper if you are unable to use the digital service.
Filing a 60-day report, whether online or on paper, is mandatory if you fall within the criteria for making one.
Guidance for non-resident individuals who do not have a National Insurance number or unique taxpayer reference (UTR) can be found here.
Again, if you use this service to report your gain(s), you will not need to file a self assessment tax return for that year assuming you have no other reason to do so. However, if you do need to file a self assessment tax return then you will need to report the gain(s) again on that tax return.
We summarise the reporting methods in the following table:
Table B
| Required to report the disposal within 60 days? (Table A above) | HMRC's 'real time' capital gains tax service | HMRC's 'real time' report and pay CGT on UK property service | Self assessment tax return |
| Yes | N/A | Required in all cases | Only required if issued with a return by HMRC or otherwise meet self assessment criteria |
| No | Optional | N/A | Required if gain not reported using 'real time' capital gains tax service or if issued with a return by HMRC or otherwise meet self assessment criteria |
Reporting via self assessment before 60-day deadline
An exception to the usual rules around the 60-day return arises if both of the following apply:
- The 60-day deadline falls after you have already disclosed the disposal on a self assessment tax return.
- On the self assessment return, you report as payable at least as much capital gains tax as would have technically been payable via the 60-day return.
Where these conditions are met, the 60-day return is not required and the CGT is not due until the normal due date for self assessment.
The amount of capital gains tax which is technically payable via the 60-day return may be more than the amount of capital gains tax due via self assessment. For example, this might happen if you have a loss which arises after the completion date for the disposal which is being reported on the 60-day return (see the heading above, Multiple disposals in a year).
In this situation, a 60-day return is still required.
Similarly, the requirement to file a 60-day return is also waived if the 60-day deadline occurs after the deadline for the self assessment tax return on which the disposal should be reported (for example, if contracts were exchanged towards the end of the tax year but completion did not occur until the following January).
Paying CGT instalments
In certain limited circumstances where you make a gift of an asset (or otherwise do not receive full cash proceeds on disposal) you may be able to elect to pay a CGT bill in yearly instalments.
This can include where CGT may be due alongside a 60-day report, on disposal of UK residential property (for UK residents), or UK land and property (for non-UK residents).
Payment by instalments if an asset is gifted
If an asset is gifted, electing to pay by instalments is only possible for the following assets:
- land and property
- a controlling holding of shares in a company
- any holding of shares in an unlisted company
For example, payment by annual instalments may be available if a property is gifted within a family to someone other than your spouse or civil partner. In this case, CGT is calculated using the market value of the property at the date of disposal, but there may be no proceeds from which to pay the CGT.
Any election to pay CGT by instalments should be made to HMRC in writing before the CGT becomes payable – this might not leave much time where the asset in question was a property subject to the 60-day reporting requirements. No late payment penalties apply where an election is made to pay CGT by instalments, provided the election is made on time, but late payment interest will be added to each instalment payable.
An election to make payments of CGT by annual instalment in case of a gift allows the tax to be paid in up to ten equal annual payments.
You can read more about electing to pay CGT by annual instalments on a gifted asset in HMRC’s Capital Gains Manual.
Payment by instalments if proceeds are deferred
It may also be possible to pay CGT by instalments if the proceeds of disposal are themselves payable by instalments over a period exceeding 18 months. In this case, the payment of CGT can only be spread over a maximum period of eight years. There is no restriction on the type of asset disposed of in order to qualify.
You can read more about electing to pay CGT by instalments where the proceeds are deferred in HMRC’s Capital Gains Manual.
Time to pay arrangements
If you owe CGT as part of your self assessment tax bill (that is, you are not required to make a 60-day report for the disposal), but find that you are unable to pay by the deadline due to financial difficulties, then you may be able to make a time to pay arrangement with HMRC for your entire self assessment tax bill, including the CGT.
A time to pay arrangement is an agreed payment plan which stops late payment penalties from applying during the period of the arrangement, provided you make the payments as agreed. Late payment interest is charged as normal.
If you owe CGT alongside an obligation to make a 60-day report and you are not eligible to apply for annual instalments for that liability, we understand there is no formal option to pay the tax under a time to pay arrangement.
However, as noted above, provided the CGT is paid by the normal self assessment due date, no late payment penalties should be applicable. Late payment interest will still run from the 60-day deadline.
