The annual exempt amount is £3,000 per individual (2025/26 tax year). It cannot be carried forward; any unused portion is permanently lost at 5 April. For married couples and civil partners, both partners each have their own £3,000, giving a combined £6,000 on jointly-held assets. The allowance was £12,300 as recently as 2022/23.

Not on your main residence. Private Residence Relief fully exempts the gain on a property that has been your only or main residence throughout ownership. CGT does apply to second homes, buy-to-let properties, and investment properties that have never been your main residence. For residential property, CGT must be reported and paid within 60 days of completion using HMRC's online service.

The main strategies are: use the £3,000 annual exempt amount every year; move investments into ISA wrappers through a Bed and ISA transaction; transfer assets to a spouse before sale to use their allowance and basic rate band; offset capital losses against gains; and make pension contributions in the year of disposal to extend the basic rate band.

If you sell a UK residential property at a gain, you must report and pay CGT to HMRC within 60 days of the completion date (not from exchange of contracts, and not through the year-end self-assessment). Failure to report within 60 days results in an automatic £100 penalty, with further penalties for delays beyond 6 and 12 months.

BADR reduces the CGT rate on qualifying business disposals to 18% from 6 April 2026, compared to the standard higher rate of 24%. A £1 million lifetime limit applies. To qualify, the business must have traded for at least 2 years, and the business owner must hold at least 5% of ordinary share capital and voting rights for 2 years before disposal.

Yes. Transfers between spouses or civil partners living together are CGT-free. Therefore treated as no gain, no loss. The receiving spouse inherits the original cost but uses their own £3,000 annual exempt amount and basic rate band on a future sale. Where one spouse is a basic-rate taxpayer and the other is a higher-rate taxpayer, transferring an asset before sale can convert part of the gain from 24% to 18%.

A Bed and ISA involves selling an investment outside an ISA and using the proceeds to purchase the same investment inside an ISA. This uses the annual exempt amount on the gain at point of sale, and all future growth inside the ISA is permanently free of CGT and income tax. The 30-day bed-and-breakfasting rule does not apply because shares inside an ISA are held in a different legal structure.

No. Death is not a CGT disposal. Assets pass to heirs at their probate value at the date of death. Thus eliminating any capital gains that had built up during the deceased's lifetime. This is known as the CGT-free uplift on death. However, the asset remains in the estate for Inheritance Tax purposes. Deciding whether to gift assets during life or hold until death requires careful modelling of both taxes together.

The simplest first step is a free initial conversation with a Bluebond specialist, or download the free CGT Planning Guide below. We review your asset portfolio, planned disposals, income position, and IHT exposure. This identifies where CGT can be reduced and coordinating with your broader tax plan. No obligation, no charge for the initial consultation.

The CGT annual exempt amount is £3,000 per individual. Gains above this are taxed at 18% if they fall within your unused basic rate income tax band, or 24% if they fall above it. The same rates apply to shares, investment funds, residential property, and most other assets. These rates have applied since 30 October 2024.