The 60-day reporting deadline

A deadline that catches experienced landlords

When you sell a UK residential property at a gain that produces CGT, you must report it and pay the tax within 60 days of completion. Not by the following 31 January. Sixty days.

This is separate from, and in addition to, your Self Assessment return. The same disposal is reported twice: once within 60 days on the standalone property return, and again on your annual return, where the payment already made is credited.

Completion date            15 March
60-day report due          14 May          <-- easily missed
Tax paid                   14 May

Self Assessment return     following 31 January
   Same disposal reported again
   The May payment is credited against the bill

Why so many people miss it

Because it is recent, and because it contradicts a lifetime of habit. Landlords who have sold property before, under the old rules, know the gain went on the annual return and that was that. Nothing in the conveyancing process reliably prompts you, and solicitors are not universally in the habit of raising it.

When it does not apply

• No CGT is due, for example the gain is within the annual exempt amount of £3,000
• The property is fully covered by Private Residence Relief, such as your own home
• The disposal produced a loss
• The property is non-residential

If tax is due, however, the 60-day clock is running from completion, not from when you get round to thinking about it.

Penalties

Late reporting carries penalties on the same escalating pattern as other filing failures: a fixed penalty once the deadline passes, further penalties as the delay lengthens, and interest on the tax paid late. The tax was due on day 60, so interest runs from there.

The bit HMRC does not spell out

You have to estimate. Within 60 days of completion you may not know your final income for the year, and your income determines whether the gain is taxed at 18% or 24%. You are expected to make a reasonable estimate, pay on that basis, and settle up on the annual return.

People delay the report precisely because they are waiting to know the exact figure. That is the wrong instinct: a reasonable estimate filed on time beats an exact figure filed late, every time.

What to do the day you agree a sale

1. Put the 60-day date in the calendar from the expected completion
2. Pull together purchase paperwork, improvement receipts and both sets of legal costs
3. Estimate the gain and the likely rate
4. Report and pay through HMRC's UK property account within the window
5. Report the same disposal again on your annual return

You have reached the end

You have now covered rental income and expenses, Rent a Room, the mortgage interest restriction and what it does to real numbers, reporting, joint ownership, and both stages of selling. The exam covers all three modules.

Common mistakes

• Waiting for the annual return. The 60-day report is separate and comes first.
• Delaying to get an exact figure. A reasonable estimate on time is what is expected.
• Assuming the solicitor handles it. The obligation is yours.
• Not reporting it again on the annual return. Both are required.