Capital gains tax reporting

Overview

If you dispose of a chargeable asset for capital gains tax purposes, you might need to report the disposal to HMRC – even if no tax is payable. You can read more about what disposals count as ‘chargeable’ on our main Capital gains tax guidance page.

In most cases, you need to report the disposal if either:

• Your total gains (before deducting any losses) for the year are more than the annual exempt amount (currently £3,000).
• Your total sales proceeds (including the value of any items you have given away as a gift) are more than £50,000, even if your gains are less than the annual exempt amount. 

If you have a capital gains tax liability, then this will normally be payable by the normal due date for self assessment. However, there are exceptions to this where the disposal falls within the separate 60-day reporting rules for UK land and property.

How to report the disposal

UK land and property – 60-day reporting

If you make a disposal of UK land and property, you might need to report the disposal of the property to HMRC and pay any capital gains tax due within 60 days of completion. 

Please see our separate guidance for more information about 60-day reporting for UK property.

For all other disposals

If you are registered for self assessment and complete a self assessment tax return, generally you report your capital gains using the capital gains pages of the tax return. If you usually submit a paper tax return, you can find the specific pages on GOV.UK.

The same is true if you are within Making Tax Digital for income tax – you will need to report your capital gains on your end of year Making Tax Digital tax return.

If you do not normally file a tax return and have no other reason to do so, then there are two options for reporting the disposal to HMRC:

• You may be able to use HMRC’s ’real time’ capital gains tax service, or
• You can choose to register for self assessment and report the gain on a tax return for the year in question.

We look at both options below.

Report using HMRC’s ‘real time’ transaction reporting service 

You can report your gains using a ‘real time’ online service on GOV.UK if you are UK resident. This service can be used to report gains arising in the current or previous tax year, so currently the service is available to report gains arising in tax years 2026/27 and 2025/26.

You should submit a separate ‘real time’ report for each gain you have made. You will need to gather together information about the asset you have sold or given away in order to complete the report, as detailed on GOV.UK. You will also need to calculate the capital gain yourself and include a copy of the calculation with the report. 

Using this service is optional and you can report the gains at any time after the disposal up to 31 December after the tax year when you made the gain. For example, if you disposed of an asset and made a gain in January 2026, this would fall in the 2025/26 tax year (which ended on 5 April 2026), and you would be able to report the gain using the ‘real time’ service up to 31 December 2026. You would need to pay any capital gains tax liability on this gain by 31 January 2027. 

To use the service, you will need to use your usual log in credentials for HMRC online services. This will either be a government gateway login, or One Login for Government, depending on when you first registered. If you have not signed up for HMRC’s digital services before, you will need to create a new account.  You can read more about this on our page Online tax accounts.

If you use this service to report your gains, you will not need to file a self assessment tax return for that year assuming you have no other reason to do so. However, if you do need to file a tax return then you will need to also report the gains again on that tax return.

Report using self assessment 

If you choose not to use the ‘real time’ service, you will need to report the disposal on your tax return. If you do not do a tax return normally, then you will need to contact HMRC and register for self assessment by completing form SA1 on GOV.UK, or by contacting HMRC. You should do this by 5 October following the end of the tax year for which you have capital gains tax to pay (or losses that you want to notify to HMRC for carrying forward).

If you are unlikely to need to complete a tax return again in the future, as soon as you have sent in this tax return, contact HMRC requesting that you be removed from self assessment so that they do not keep sending you tax returns to complete.

Summary of reporting methods

We summarise the reporting methods in the following table:

Paying capital gains tax

Capital gains tax is usually payable by 31 January following the end of the tax year of disposal.

Payment by instalments if an asset is gifted

In certain limited circumstances where you make a gift of an asset (or otherwise do not receive full cash proceeds on disposal) you may be able to elect to pay a capital gains tax bill in yearly instalments. 

If an asset is gifted, electing to pay by instalments is only possible for the following assets:

• land and property
• a controlling holding of shares in a company
• any holding of shares in an unlisted company 

For example, payment by annual instalments may be available if a property is gifted within a family to someone other than your spouse or civil partner. In this case, capital gains tax is calculated using the market value of the property at the date of disposal, but there may be no proceeds from which to pay the capital gains tax.

Any election to pay capital gains tax by instalments should be made to HMRC in writing before the tax becomes payable – this might not leave much time where the asset in question was a property subject to the 60-day reporting requirements. No late payment penalties apply where an election is made to pay capital gains tax by instalments, provided the election is made on time, but late payment interest will be added to each instalment payable.

An election to make payments of capital gains tax by annual instalment in case of a gift allows the tax to be paid in up to ten equal annual payments.

You can read more about electing to pay capital gains tax by annual instalments on a gifted asset in HMRC’s Capital Gains Manual on GOV.UK.

Payment by instalments if proceeds are deferred

It may also be possible to pay capital gains tax by instalments if the proceeds of disposal are themselves payable by instalments over a period exceeding 18 months. In this case, the tax payments can only be spread over a maximum period of eight years. There is no restriction on the type of asset disposed of in order to qualify.

You can read more about electing to pay capital gains tax by instalments where the proceeds are deferred in HMRC’s Capital Gains Manual on GOV.UK.

Time to pay arrangements

If you owe capital gains tax as part of your self assessment tax bill (that is, you have not chosen to use the real-time reporting service or you are not required to make a 60-day report for the disposal), but find that you are unable to pay by the deadline due to financial difficulties, then you may be able to make a time to pay arrangement with HMRC for your entire self assessment tax bill, including the capital gains tax.