Non-residents and capital gains tax

Overview

In general, you are only fully in scope of UK CGT if you are resident in the UK. If you are resident in the UK, you may be liable to CGT on disposals of assets located anywhere in the world, not just your assets located in the UK.

However, if you dispose of an asset while temporarily non-resident in the UK (explained below), you may be liable to CGT in the tax year that you return to the UK. This may apply to you if decide to live abroad for a few years or if you are posted overseas.

Non-resident individuals are also liable to CGT on disposals of UK land or property. We discuss this below.

Temporary non-residence

Very broadly, you will be temporarily non-resident in the UK if all of the following apply:

• You have been resident in the UK for at least four tax years out of the seven tax years prior to departure.
• You leave the UK and become non-resident.
• You then return to the UK after a period of non-residence lasting five years or less.

If there is any doubt over whether or not you have a period of non-residence lasting five years or less, please defer to the detailed rules contained within HMRC’s technical manuals. Depending on your circumstances, this can be counter-intuitive and may not reflect the period you were physically outside the UK.

If you are temporarily non-resident then, in the tax year of your return to the UK, any gains or losses realised during your period of non-residence (including in an overseas part of a split year), become chargeable to CGT in the tax year of return. These rules aim to prevent people from leaving the UK to dispose of an asset just to avoid CGT.

You may be able to get double tax relief if you have paid foreign taxes on these gains.

Normally, no tax charge arises if the asset that was sold during the period of temporary non-residence was acquired during that same period. In practice, this means that only disposals of assets held prior to leaving the UK are in scope.

For instance, if you went overseas on 1 July 2024 and you were eligible to split the year from this date, then a disposal on, say, 1 September 2024 would not be charged to UK CGT in that year. However, if you return to the UK within five years (say in 2027/28), the disposal will be treated as arising in the year you return – assuming it was an asset you held prior to leaving the UK. Similarly, if you make a disposal during 2025/26 and return to the UK in 2027/28, the disposal will be taxed as a gain accruing in 2027/28.

If you have a gain which is brought within scope of UK CGT under the temporary non-residence regime, it is deemed to arise in the year in which you resume UK residence. You would therefore have an annual exempt amount (£3,000 for 2024/25) available for that year.

Disposals of UK land and property

From 6 April 2019, non-residents were brought within scope of CGT on disposals of all UK land and property. Prior to this, between 6 April 2015 and 5 April 2019, non-resident CGT (NRCGT) applied to disposals of UK residential property by individuals who were not resident in the UK for the tax year of disposal.

In each case, whether or not you were, or are, temporarily non-resident at the time of the disposal is irrelevant. You might therefore need to pay some CGT (or NRCGT, pre-6 April 2019) when you dispose of the property and again when you return to the UK.

If you are non-resident and you are liable to CGT on a disposal of UK land or property (or, from 6 April 2015 to 5 April 2019, UK residential property) then you may not need to pay tax on the whole gain.

Note, however, that you are required to report the disposal to HMRC within 60 days, regardless of how much tax is due. See Capital gains tax reporting for more information.

Disposals of UK residential properties from 6 April 2015

If you owned the residential property before 6 April 2015, then broadly you will only be liable to tax on the part of the gain which has accrued from 6 April 2015. You can choose how to calculate the gain on which the charge is based in one of three ways:

1. On the difference between (a) the amount the property is sold for and (b) its value on 6 April 2015. You will need to establish the value of the property on 6 April 2015.
2. Over the whole period of ownership and then time-apportion it and the part of the gain that relates to the period from 6 April 2015 would be subject to these provisions.
3. If you sold it for less than it cost, then you can calculate the loss over the whole period of ownership, but the way you can use this loss is restricted.

If you wish to choose option 2 or option 3 you need to make an election to do so. If the property was at some point your main home, private residence relief may apply to any chargeable gain calculated under options 1 and 2.

If you purchased the property after 6 April 2015, then the whole gain will be chargeable (subject to main residence relief).

Disposals of other UK land and property from 6 April 2019

If you owned the non-residential land or property before 6 April 2019, then broadly you will only be liable to the part of the gain which has accrued from 6 April 2019. You can choose how to calculate the gain on which the charge is based in one of two ways:

1. On the difference between (a) the amount the land or property is sold for and (b) its value on 6 April 2019. You will need to establish the value of the property on 6 April 2019.
2. If you sold the land or property for less than it cost you then you can calculate the loss over the whole period of ownership, but the way you can use this loss is restricted.

If you wish to choose the second option, you need to make an election to do so.

Note that it is not possible to do a straight-line apportionment in this scenario, as is possible in the case where you sell a UK residential property.

If you purchased the property after 6 April 2019, then the whole gain will be chargeable.

If you sell UK land or property which was partly residential in the period between 6 April 2015 and 5 April 2019, different rules apply. See HMRC’s technical manual for more information.

Note that you may also have a CGT liability on any gain that is not captured above if you are a temporary non-UK resident.

You can read more about CGT for non-residents on disposals of UK land and property on GOV.UK.

Non-residents are also liable to CGT if they are carrying on a trade in the UK and they dispose of UK assets used in that trade. We do not cover those rules here.

Selling a UK home while non-resident

This is a complicated situation. The first thing to check is that you are definitely non-resident. If you are a UK resident, you will be fully liable to CGT on disposals of assets located anywhere in the world, not just your UK-located assets.

Secondly, note that you must report the disposal within 60 days of completion using HMRC’s Report and pay CGT on UK property service. Tax will also be due by the same point if there is any due. If you need to file a self assessment tax return for the year, you will need to ensure that the gains are included even if you have already reported them to HMRC using this service.

To calculate the gain to report, there are two steps:

1. You must first calculate the amount of the gain which is in scope of UK CGT (or NRCGT, for disposals of UK residential property prior to 6 April 2019).
2. For this part, you must determine how much main residence relief, if any, applies to the gain that is in scope of UK CGT (or NRCGT, for disposals of UK residential property prior to 6 April 2019).

Note that you will have the UK annual exempt amount (£3,000 for 2024/25) to offset any gain which is not covered by private residence relief.

If you then return to the UK after a period of temporary non-residence, you will need to consider whether you have a UK CGT liability on the part of the gain which was excluded in step 1 above.

Overseas tax

Each country may have its own rules on CGT. If you dispose of any asset while you are living outside the UK, you may have to pay tax on any gain that arises in the country where you are living. You will need to take advice locally.

If you are liable to tax on the disposal of the asset in another country as well as the UK, then you may be able to claimdouble tax relief. You should seek advice in this situation.

More information

See GOV.UK for further information about CGT if you are non-resident, as well as some basic information on tax if you return to the UK after living abroad.

HMRC provide a service via GOV.UK allowing you to send questions about CGT if you are not resident in the UK.

Detailed guidance on how to work our your tax if you sell UK land or property as a non-resident can be found on GOV.UK.

HMRC have produced a helpsheet to guide you if you think you may be temporarily non-UK resident.

The rules are very complex. You should take further advice from a professional tax adviser or HMRC’s residency unit if you are considering selling an asset. You can find out how to contact HMRC residency unit onGOV.UK.