Capital gains tax on selling a property.
Selling a buy-to-let or second home? Work out the gain after your costs and the £3,000 allowance, and the tax due at the 2025/26 residential rates of 18% and 24%. A guide, not tax advice. Free, no sign-up.
A guide, not tax advice. Uses 2025/26 figures: the annual exempt amount is £3,000, and capital gains on UK residential property are taxed at 18% for gains falling within your remaining basic-rate band and 24% above it. The split depends on your other taxable income for the year. If the property was ever your only or main home you may qualify for Private Residence Relief (and possibly lettings relief), which can wipe out much of the gain — work that out and enter it in the reliefs box. This tool assumes a single owner; jointly-owned property splits the gain and each owner has their own £3,000 allowance. You must report and pay CGT on UK residential property within 60 days of completion. Always check GOV.UK or an accountant. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
Gain, allowance, then 18% or 24%.
What counts as the gain. Your gain is the sale price less what you paid, less the costs of buying and selling (stamp duty, legal fees, agent fees) and the cost of any capital improvements. Repairs and maintenance don't count — those are income-tax expenses while you let it, not capital costs.
The £3,000 annual exempt amount. Everyone has a tax-free allowance for capital gains, which is £3,000 for 2025/26 (down from £6,000 the year before and £12,300 not long ago). You deduct it from your gains for the year before working out the tax.
Why the rate depends on your income. Capital gains stack on top of your income. The part of the taxable gain that fits in your unused basic-rate band is taxed at 18%; anything above is taxed at 24%. So a higher earner pays 24% on most or all of the gain, while someone with little other income may pay 18% on a chunk of it.
If you ever lived there. If the property was your only or main home at some point, Private Residence Relief exempts the gain for the time you lived there plus the final 9 months, and you may also get lettings relief in limited cases. That can dramatically reduce or remove the tax. This calculator lets you enter a relief figure but doesn't work the relief out for you — GOV.UK has a separate tool, or ask an accountant.
Spread a gain across two people. Transfers between spouses or civil partners are free of capital gains tax. So before a sale, moving a share of the property into joint names means two £3,000 allowances and two sets of basic-rate band, which can noticeably lower the combined tax on a big gain. The transfer needs to be a genuine change of beneficial ownership and is worth getting an accountant to set up properly.
Report and pay within 60 days. Since 2021 you must report a residential-property gain and pay the tax within 60 days of completion, through a HMRC Capital Gains Tax on UK property account — separately from your normal Self Assessment. Missing the deadline brings penalties.
Keep the paperwork that proves your gain.
Stead stores your completion statements, improvement invoices and certificates against each property, so when you sell, the costs that reduce your gain are all in one place.