CGT may be payable on the disposal of a chargeable asset, for example, the sale of land and property at a profit where private residence relief is not available or covers only part of the gain.  

HMRC will charge interest on CGT paid late and may impose a penalty where a return is filed late or contains an error. ICAEW’s Tax Faculty highlights three areas which may require additional attention or pose particular challenges for SA tax returns for 2024/25: 

Check if a return is required 

There are several circumstances in which a person must report capital gains and losses on the 2024/25 SA tax return, including where: 

• their total chargeable gains for the year, before deducting any losses, are more than the annual exempt amount (AEA) of £3,000;
• the total value of the assets they have disposed of in the year exceeds £50,000; 
• they wish to claim a CGT relief, other than private residence relief; or
• they wish to claim a capital loss. Capital losses must be claimed (ie, notified to HMRC with a computation) within four years of the end of the tax year in which the loss arose. 

The AEA has reduced significantly in recent years, from £12,300 for 2022/23 to £6,000 for 2023/24 and to £3,000 for 2024/25. As a result, more people will need to engage with and pay CGT.  

If gains/losses must be included in a SA tax return, and the person is not already within SA, they will need to register for SA. The deadline for submitting a tax return for 2024/25 online, and paying any tax due, is 31 January 2026.  

There is an additional reporting obligation (60-day reporting) where UK residential property is disposed of. Under 60-day reporting, the disposal must be reported to HMRC, and any CGT due should be paid within 60 days of the sale. Where the person is UK resident, they do not need to use 60-day reporting if there is no CGT to pay. With one limited exception (explained in ICAEW’s TAXguide 15/20) 60-day reporting does not remove the requirement to include a gain in a SA tax return. 

Use the correct tax rate of CGT

With effect from 30 October 2024, the main rates of CGT applying to disposals of assets, other than residential property and carried interest, increased from: 

• 10% to 18% for basic rate taxpayers; and
• 20% to 24% for higher rate taxpayers.

As this change was announced during the tax year, the SA tax return may not automatically calculate CGT liabilities at the correct rates. If this is the case, an adjustment should be made in the tax return at box 51 to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid. HMRC has provided an online calculator that can help with this.   

ICAEW is aware that this issue has already caused errors in 2024/25 tax returns submitted to HMRC, as reported in an earlier article. 

Don’t forget cryptoassets

It is important to remember that cryptoassets are not cash or currency. For CGT purposes, they are pooled in a similar way to shares. Although it has always been necessary to disclose capital gains and losses on cryptoassets in a SA tax return, 2024/25 is the first year for which the return includes separate boxes for capturing information relating to cryptoassets (13.1 to 13.8 of the CGT pages). It is important not to overlook the new boxes when completing the 2024/25 tax return.  

The cryptoasset reporting framework (CARF) will be implemented in the UK from 1 January 2026, increasing the information available to HMRC to ensure that the correct amount of tax is paid on transactions in cryptoassets. It is expected to increase tax revenues by £315m over the four years leading up to and including 2029/30, suggesting that there may be significant underreporting of cryptoasset gains at present.  

Further information 

• Capital Gains Tax: detailed information - GOV.UK
• Check out ICAEW's corresponding article in the series: Making the most of capital losses