UK resident

Reporting requirement on disposals before 6 April 2020

• If you make a capital gain you will need to report it to HMRC if:
  • The total of your gains exceed your available Annual Exemption, or
  • The total proceeds are more than four times the Annual Exemption (for 2020/21 and 2021/22 this is £49,200).
• If the total gains are below the Annual Exemption and total proceeds do not exceed four times the Annual Exemption, you are not required to report them to HMRC.
• If you have a reportable capital gain(s) before 6 April 2020 you can report this to HMRC in two ways:
  • Using HMRC’s ‘real time’ Capital Gains Tax (CGT) service.
  • Completing the Self Assessment tax return.

Real-time CGT reporting: currently outside Self Assessment

• If you are currently outside the Self Assessment regime, you do not have to register for Self Assessment just to report a capital gain.
• Instead, for pre-April 2020 disposals on residential property, and for all other gains, you can use HMRC’s ‘real-time’ service.
• You can report your capital gain anytime between the date you have prepared your capital gain calculations and 31 December following the end of the tax year in which the capital gain took place.
  • For example, if you sold a holiday home at a gain in June 2018, you could have reported the gain using the real-time service up to 31 December 2019. You could also have reported it before the end of the 2018/19 tax year if you wished.
• You will need to have or set up a Government Gateway account.
• PDF or JPG copies of your calculations will need to be attached to your submissions.
• The deadline for the tax remains 31 January following the end of the tax year, though HMRC will issue a payment reference number once they have processed the gain so that you can make payment sooner if you wish.
• The main benefit of this system is that it allows for immediate calculation, reporting, and if necessary, payment of capital gains, which will ensure penalties and interest are avoided.
• If you prefer you can register for Self Assessment and report the gain on a Tax Return.

Real-time CGT reporting: Already in Self Assessment

• If you are already in Self Assessment, you can still use the real-time service.
• If you choose to report under the real-time service, you will still have to report the gain on your tax return as well.

Reporting requirement on disposals on or after 6 April 2020

• Gains on UK residential property disposals must now be declared on HMRC's online CGT disposal return, and the tax paid, using the Capital Gains Tax UK property disposal service, within 30 days of completion.
• For all other capital gains, nothing has changed. These can continue to be reported under Self Assessment and/or using the real-time service, see above,
• Self Assessment (SA) reporting continues in parallel to the 30-day rule.
• If you are SA registered and you make a capital disposal you may need to report it to HMRC.
• You must include your disposal on your SA return if:
  • The total of your gains exceeds your available Annual Exemption.
  • The total proceeds are more than four times the Annual Exemption (for 2021/22 and 2020/21 this is £49,200), 
    • Unless the gain is covered by Private Residence Relief.
    • If the total gains are below the Annual Exemption and total proceeds do not exceed four times the Annual Exemption, you are not required to report them to HMRC.
  • If you are not registered for SA, you do not need to report gains if there is no tax payable.
• Further reporting obligations: 
  • Any adjustments to the figures or reliefs claimed can be made under SA and the tax due will be adjusted accordingly.
  • If you are not already in Self Assessment you can register and include the gain on your Self Assessment return but you are not required to if you do not have any other income or gains. 
• From 14 October 2020 it is possible to amend HMRC's online property disposal return after the 30-day window within the normal Self Assessment amendment window.
  • Amendments are only be permitted "so far as the return could, when originally delivered, have included the amendment by reference to things already done". It would seem that any changes which do not meet this condition will need to be addressed in the Self Assessment return instead.
  • HMRC announced that they would not charge penalties for late returns by UK residents until after 31 July 2020. See Changes to CGT reporting: Soft landing period for penalties
• If no CGT is due the new 30-day online return does not need to be filed.
• In determining whether any tax is due, only losses incurred by the date of completion may be taken into account.
• The grant of an option over residential property resulting in a capital gain triggers a requirement to file a return and pay the CGT within 30 days despite the fact that the grant and exercise of an option are generally treated as a single transaction on the later date that the option is exercised.
• Digitally excluded taxpayers, or their agents, should call HMRC on 0300 200 3300 quoting form reference 'PPDCGT' to request a paper return which must come from HMRC each time; agents cannot simply copy returns and use for multiple clients.
  • Due to the length of time that paper returns will take HMRC have said that the 30-day clock for payment of CGT will be paused once the paper return is received to allow them time to process the return and to contact the taxpayer with details of how to make payment.
  • HMRC have advised that where a paper return has been used and it is necessary to wait for HMRC to issue a demand to pay, taxpayers will have 30 days from that issue date to settle the tax.
• Taxpayers who do not have a UK passport or credit history may have difficulty completing the Government Gateway verification process: if this is the case, they are advised to complete paper forms. 
• When making payment, taxpayers must ensure that they quote either their CGT account reference number or payment reference number to enable their payment to be allocated to their account. 
  • Payments made should be available to view on the dashboard in three to five days once payment has cleared. 
• The 30-day return enquiry window for taxpayers not in Self Assessment is generally one year from 31 January following the end of the tax year of disposal. The enquiry window for disposals in the 2021-22 year ends on 31 January 2024. 
• The 30-day return enquiry window for taxpayers who are in Self Assessment is generally 12 months from the submission of the Self Assessment tax return. 

Using an agent to report disposals on or after 6 April 2020:

• Agents can report disposals on behalf of clients but must be specifically authorised to do so via their agent services account (ASA) as existing 64-8 forms do not cover this.
  • The client must first set up a Capital Gains Tax on a UK property account. They will be issued with a 15 digit reference number.
  • The client then passes their reference number and postcode to their agent who can request authorisation to manage the client's CGT property account. They do this through their ASA.
  • The client will receive a link to click on to approve the agent to act. Once approved the agent can prepare and file the return for the client.
  • Once the return is filed the agent and client should receive an email from HMRC with instructions for making payment. It appears that payment cannot be made simultaneously with the filing of the return as a reference is required.
  • Anyone who cannot authorise their agent online and does not wish to file a paper return can go through a telephone authorisation process with HMRC instead.
• The exception to this is for estates. Agents can only submit paper returns on behalf of personal representatives (PRs) as there is not yet any facility for PR's to authorise agents online. However, the PR's can file online returns themselves by setting up an online property account.

Trustees who need to report disposals:

• Where a trust needs to report a gain and has not already registered under the trust registration service, they will need to do so before they can report the gain and pay the Capital Gains Tax. See UK Trusts.

Non-UK residents

• Non-UK residents are partly outside of the UK CGT regime.
  • From April 2015, UK residential property sold at a capital gain is subject to Non-resident CGT (NRCGT).
  • From April 2019, all non-resident UK property sales and indirect disposals of an interest in a 'UK property-rich' entity are subject to NRCGT whether the property is residential or commercial.
  • See Non-Resident Capital Gains Tax (NRCGT).
• All disposals must now be reported within 30 days of completion of conveyance.

For NRCGT disposals before 6 April 2020:

• The NRCGT must also be paid within 30 days unless the non-resident is already in Self Assessment, in which case it can be paid by the normal 31 January deadline. See CGT: Payment of tax 

For NRCGT disposals on or after 6 April 2020 

• All NRCGT must be paid within 30 days whether the non-resident is in Self Assessment or not. see CGT: Payment of tax.
• HMRC's 'Capital Gains Tax UK property disposal service' must be used by the non-resident or their agent/adviser to report the gain, except in the following circumstances where the NRCGT return can continue to be used:
  • Disposals of mixed-use properties, e.g. part residential, part commercial such as a doctors surgery or shop with a flat above.
  • Indirect disposals of a property rich entity where at least 75% of the gross asset value is attributable to UK property.
• The non-resident taxpayer can set up a UK property account within the new service here without needing a government gateway ID, by going to 'Create sign-in details' and providing an email address.

Repayment of CGT

As CGT is payable within 30 days of a disposal it may not be possible at that time for a taxpayer to know what their total income tax liability will be for the year. 

In order to offset CGT paid against Income Tax, the taxpayer or their agent should phone HMRC on 0300 200 3300 or the agent dedicated line, to ask HMRC to manually offset the CGT paid against their Income Tax liability.

Alternatively, if there is time, you should amend the CGT UK property return and this will allow a refund via the CGT system.  If this is done before submitting the SA return this will avoid the need for HMRC to create a manual override.

See CGT: Payment of tax

Small print & links

Useful guides on this topic

SRT: Statutory Residence Test Toolkit
This is an interactive tool to determine 'At a glance' whether you are a UK resident or not in a tax year for 2013/14 onwards.

Non-resident CGT: UK residential property
Capital Gains Tax, non-residents and UK property.

External links

Capital Gains on UK property account

Government Gateway for real-time reporting

Non-resident CGT return