Andrew Aldridge wrote in Professional Adviser on 12 August 2026 that capital gains tax has sat behind income tax and inheritance tax in the order of client concern, treated as occasional and relevant only when someone sells a business, realises gains in a portfolio or disposes of an investment property. The standfirst adds that the sharpest sense of grievance may now be among business owners.
CGT: A stealth tax representing advice opportunity (Professional Adviser, 12 August 2026)
The accountant computes the gain, in the ordinary run of a tax year, between nine and twenty-two months after the disposal. By then every decision that could have changed the figure has been made: which tax year the contract completed in, whose name the asset was in, whether the disposal was taken in one part or two.
HMRC's rates and allowances guidance, updated 13 April 2026, records an annual exempt amount of £3,000 for individuals in 2026/27 and £1,500 for most trustees. It was £3,000 in 2025/26 and 2024/25, £6,000 in 2023/24, and £12,300 in 2022/23 and 2021/22 (gov.uk, Capital Gains Tax rates and allowances).
Gains made from 6 April 2026 are charged at 18% within the basic rate band and 24% above it, with 24% for trustees and personal representatives (gov.uk, Capital Gains Tax rates). For most assets the rates were 10% and 20% until 29 October 2024.
18% on qualifying gains from 6 April 2026, 14% between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026, and 10% on or before 5 April 2025 (gov.uk, Business Asset Disposal Relief). Investors' relief follows the same path.
Clients who used to fall outside capital gains tax now file, and a 10% exit charge has become 18%.
The bill is 5.3 times larger on the same gain, and the 2026/27 client has a reporting obligation where the 2022/23 client did not.
An £80,000 difference on the same transaction, from the date on the completion statement. A client who estimated their exit proceeds in 2024 may now have a figure that is £80,000 too high.
HMRC's Capital Gains Tax statistics are accredited official statistics, last updated 24 July 2025. In 2023/24 the total liability was £12.1bn, for 378,000 taxpayers on £65.9bn of gains. HMRC attributes a 1% rise in taxpayer numbers that year to the allowance cut from April 2023, which it estimates brought up to 87,000 additional taxpayers into the tax.
HMRC, Capital Gains Tax statistics, last updated 24 July 2025.
The 55 to 64 age group has consistently had the most taxpayers and, with the 45 to 54 group, accounts for the largest gains and liabilities: the two groups were 45% of the population liable and around 60% of the gains and tax in 2023/24.
39,000 taxpayers claimed business asset disposal relief in 2023/24 on £10.3bn of gains, producing £1bn of liabilities and 8% of all capital gains tax. Each of those is a business owner who has turned an illiquid asset into cash.
Capital gains tax on a UK residential property disposal must be reported and paid within 60 days of completion through a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account, with interest and a penalty possible for late reporting (gov.uk, Report and pay Capital Gains Tax on UK property).
HMRC's statistics show 163,000 taxpayers filing a property return in 2024/25, covering 183,000 disposals and £10.3bn of gains for £2.2bn of tax, the highest figures since the service opened in April 2020. Sixty days from completion is a short time in which to learn that a client sold a flat, establish the base cost, agree the reliefs and file.
The decisions that change a capital gains tax outcome are made before the disposal: the tax year it falls into, whether it is phased across two years to use two annual exempt amounts, how the asset is held between spouses or civil partners before a sale, whether losses elsewhere are crystallised in the same year, and where the client's taxable income sits against the basic rate limit, which decides whether a slice of gain is charged at 18% or 24%.
GOV.UK's worked example: a taxpayer with £20,000 of taxable income and £52,600 of gains in 2026/27 deducts the £3,000 allowance to leave £49,600. The basic rate band is £37,700, so £17,700 of the gain is charged at 18% and £31,900 at 24%, giving £10,842 (gov.uk, Capital Gains Tax rates). Relief on a personal pension contribution extends the basic rate limit by the gross contribution, so a £10,000 gross contribution moves £10,000 of gain from 24% to 18%, a difference of £600 in capital gains tax before the income tax relief on the contribution itself.
Whether a pension contribution is right for a client is a regulated question for the Equity & General financial planner. Seeing that the two calculations are connected before completion requires someone to look at both at the same time. The division of work is in what the accountant does and what the financial planner does, and the sale itself in financial planning before a business sale.
Both produce a list of clients with a decision in the next twelve months, and it is the same list a financial planner would want. The wider set is in six situations in the accounts that call for a financial planner, and the advice coverage figures are on the advice gap.
The allowance and rates above are GOV.UK's for 2026/27, updated 13 April 2026. Whether the £3,000 annual exempt amount continues beyond this tax year is a Budget matter, so client conversations about future years should use the position as it stands.
HMRC's capital gains tax statistics run to 2023/24 for the main tables, so the full-year effect of the 18% and 24% rates on total liabilities and taxpayer numbers is not yet in that series. The property tables run to 2024/25. The next annual update will show whether higher rates have changed disposal behaviour or only the size of the bills.
£3,000 for individuals, personal representatives and trustees for disabled people, and £1,500 for most other trustees, the same as 2025/26 and 2024/25. It was £6,000 in 2023/24 and £12,300 in 2022/23 and 2021/22 (gov.uk, Capital Gains Tax rates and allowances, updated 13 April 2026). Some gains that were previously covered by the allowance now have to be reported.
18% on qualifying gains from 6 April 2026, 14% between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026, and 10% on or before 5 April 2025 (gov.uk, Business Asset Disposal Relief). Investors' relief follows the same path. On a £1 million qualifying gain the tax has moved from £100,000 to £140,000 to £180,000 across three tax years.
Within 60 days of completion, through a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account, with interest and a penalty possible if late (gov.uk, Report and pay Capital Gains Tax on UK property). Clients in Self Assessment must also include the disposal in their return. The 60 days run from the completion date. HMRC recorded 163,000 taxpayers filing property returns in 2024/25.
Once completion has taken place, the decisions that affect the tax have been made. The tax year the disposal falls into, whether it is phased across more than one year, how assets are held between spouses or civil partners, and whether pension funding moves income across the basic rate boundary are all decided in advance. The useful conversation is the one held when the client first mentions they are thinking of selling.
The computation, the reporting, the reliefs claimed on the return and their qualifying conditions are accountancy and tax work. What the client does with the proceeds, how they are invested, whether pension funding forms part of the picture, and how the money provides an income once the business has gone, is regulated advice for the Equity & General financial planner. The two overlap while a disposal is still being considered, because the tax position and the financial plan inform each other.
Equity & General holds the FCA authorisation. There is no charge to your firm, and a named partnership director works with you from the first introduction.