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The rates as they stand
Capital gains tax for individuals is 18% for basic rate taxpayers and 24% for higher rate taxpayers. Trustees and personal representatives pay 24%.
The most important thing to know is what is no longer true. There used to be a separate, higher rate for residential property of 28% for higher rate taxpayers. That distinction is gone. The 28% residential rate ended on 5 April 2024, when residential gains dropped to 18% and 24%. Then, from 30 October 2024, the main rates on everything else rose from 10% and 20% to 18% and 24%, which is how the two ended up aligned. If you are reading a guide that still says 18% and 28% for property, it is out of date, and a surprising number still are.
The annual exempt amount is the real story
The annual exempt amount is £3,000 for individuals, personal representatives and trustees for disabled people. Most other trustees get £1,500. It was £12,300 in 2022/23. It has been cut by more than 75% in three years.
That is what has pulled ordinary people into capital gains tax for the first time. It is not the rate change, it is the allowance collapse. A modest share disposal or a second property sale that would have been comfortably covered a few years ago now produces a real bill and a filing obligation. People who have never thought about this tax in their lives are now inside it.
Business Asset Disposal Relief has been climbing
BADR, which most people still call Entrepreneurs Relief, rose to 18% from 6 April 2026, up from 14% in 2025/26 and 10% before that. Investors Relief has moved the same way. The £1m lifetime limit still applies.
If you are planning to sell or wind up a company, the rate you get depends on when the disposal happens, and it has moved twice in two years. Worth checking before you commit to a date.
The deadline that catches people
If you sell UK residential property at a gain, you must report it and pay the tax within 60 days of completion. Not on your tax return the following January. Sixty days.
This is the most common capital gains mistake we see, and the penalties are entirely avoidable. It applies even if you already file a self assessment return, and you then report the disposal again on that return.
What you can still do
Use both allowances if you are married or in a civil partnership. Transfers between spouses are on a no gain, no loss basis, so moving an asset before sale can double the exempt amount and potentially use a lower band.
Time disposals across tax years where you can. Two £3,000 allowances beat one, and a disposal on 6 April rather than 5 April moves the tax by a full year.
Claim your losses. Losses in the same year come off first, and unused losses can be carried forward indefinitely, but only if you claim them within four years. People forget to claim and then cannot use them.
Common questions
Do I pay capital gains tax on my own home?
Usually not. Private Residence Relief normally covers your main home for the period you lived in it. It gets more complicated if you let it out, used part of it exclusively for business, or have more than one property.
Which rate applies to me?
Add the gain to your income. The part of the gain falling within your remaining basic rate band is taxed at 18%, and anything above at 24%. A single gain can straddle both.
Figures are for 2026/27 and checked against current HMRC guidance. This is general information rather than advice on your own position. If you are planning a disposal, get in touch before you complete, not after.