Capital Gains Tax 60-Day Reporting Calculator

What the CGT 60 day reporting rule actually means

If you have sold a UK residential property that was not your only or main home, the rules on cgt 60 day reporting may apply to you, and the clock starts ticking on the day the sale completes. You have 60 days from completion to tell HMRC about the gain and to pay any Capital Gains Tax you owe. It catches a lot of people by surprise, because most of us are used to the once-a-year rhythm of Self Assessment. This is different, and it is faster.

I have sat across the table from plenty of worried sellers who had no idea this rule existed until weeks after they had banked the money. The good news is that it is very manageable once you understand it. This page walks you through who it affects, the 2026/27 figures, two worked examples, the mistakes that trip people up, and exactly how to use the calculator on this page to get a clear number before you file.

Who the 60 day rule affects (and who it does not)

The 60 day deadline applies to disposals of UK residential property where there is a taxable gain. In plain terms, that usually means:

• Second homes and holiday homes that have never been your main residence.
• Buy-to-let properties and other rental homes.
• Inherited property you have sold for more than its value at the date of death.
• A property you lived in for only part of the time you owned it, where some of the gain is taxable.

You generally do not need to make a 60 day report if the whole gain is covered by Private Residence Relief (because it was your only home throughout), if there is no taxable gain after reliefs and your annual exempt amount, or if you sell at a loss. You also do not use this route for shares or most other assets, which stay within ordinary Self Assessment. If you are unsure whether your home qualifies for full relief, our capital gains tax on property calculator and the broader capital gains tax calculator can help you sketch the position first.

The 2026/27 figures you need

Two numbers drive almost every calculation: the annual exempt amount and the residential property rates. For 2026/27 the tax-free annual exempt amount is £3,000 per person. That is the slice of total gains you can make in the year before any CGT is due. It has been cut sharply in recent years, so do not rely on old figures you remember from a decade ago.

Residential property gains are taxed at 18% within your remaining basic rate band and 24% above it. The rate you pay depends on your other taxable income in the same tax year, because the gain effectively sits on top of your income. Here is the snapshot for 2026/27:

Married couples and civil partners each have their own £3,000 allowance and their own bands, so a jointly owned property is usually split 50/50 (or by your actual ownership shares) and reported on two separate returns. Transferring a share to a spouse before selling can be a legitimate way to use two allowances and two basic rate bands, but get the timing right and take advice before you do it.

How the calculation works, step by step

The mechanics are not as scary as the deadline makes them feel. Work through it like this:

• Start with the sale price and deduct what you originally paid for the property.
• Deduct allowable costs: stamp duty you paid when buying, legal and conveyancing fees on both purchase and sale, estate agent fees, and the cost of genuine capital improvements (a new extension, not routine repairs or redecorating).
• Apply any Private Residence Relief for the period it was your main home, plus the final 9 months of ownership which usually count as exempt even if you had moved out.
• Take off your £3,000 annual exempt amount (or what is left of it after any other gains in the year).
• Apply 18% and 24% across your remaining basic rate band and above it.

Allowable costs matter more than people expect. Our conveyancing fees calculator and cost of moving house calculator can help you reconstruct figures if you have lost track. If you paid the higher rate when buying a second home, our second home stamp duty calculator can confirm that figure for your cost base.

Worked example one: a buy-to-let landlord

Priya bought a flat as a rental in 2014 for £180,000 and sold it in the 2026/27 tax year for £290,000. She paid £4,800 in buying costs and £5,200 in selling costs, and she never lived there, so no Private Residence Relief applies. Her gain is £290,000 minus £180,000 minus £10,000 of costs, which is £100,000.

She deducts her £3,000 annual exempt amount, leaving £97,000 taxable. Priya earns £50,000 a year, so she is already a higher rate taxpayer with almost no basic rate band left. Nearly all of the gain is taxed at 24%, giving a CGT bill of roughly £23,280. She must report this through her HMRC UK property account and pay within 60 days of completion. A landlord in this position should also revisit ongoing income with our buy-to-let profit calculator and our rental income tax calculator, especially given the way mortgage interest relief is now restricted (see our section 24 calculator and the guide on Section 24 for landlords).

Worked example two: a second home with some main-residence relief

Tom and his wife bought a cottage in 2010 for £200,000 and sold it in 2026/27 for £360,000, a gross gain of £160,000 before costs. They owned it for 16 years. For the first 4 years it was genuinely their main home, then they moved away and kept it as a weekend bolt-hole. Combined buying and selling costs were £12,000, leaving a £148,000 net gain split equally between them at £74,000 each.

Private Residence Relief covers the 4 years they lived there plus the final 9 months, which is roughly 4.75 years of 16, so about 30% of each person's gain is exempt. That removes around £22,200 each, leaving roughly £51,800 each. After their separate £3,000 allowances, about £48,800 each is taxable. Tom is a basic rate taxpayer with some band spare and his wife is higher rate, so their bills differ: hers falls mostly at 24% while part of his catches 18%. They file two separate 60 day reports. This is exactly the kind of split where running both sets of numbers through the calculator first saves a lot of guesswork.

The HMRC UK property account

You report and pay through the online HMRC UK property account, sometimes called the Capital Gains Tax on UK property service. You set it up at gov.uk report and pay your capital gains tax, where you will be given a property account reference number. If you would rather your accountant filed for you, they need that reference plus an authorisation code from you, so request the account early rather than on day 59. Full background sits at gov.uk capital gains tax and the property-specific rules at gov.uk tax when you sell property.

Penalties for missing the deadline

Miss the 60 days and HMRC charges a fixed £100 late filing penalty straight away. If the return is still outstanding after 6 months, and again after 12 months, further penalties of £300 (or 5% of the tax, if higher) can apply. Late payment of the tax attracts interest, and additional late payment penalties build up the longer it sits unpaid. None of this is catastrophic if you act quickly, and in practice HMRC is reasonable where you have a genuine excuse and put things right promptly. If a penalty has already landed, our self assessment penalty calculator and HMRC letter decoder can help you understand exactly what you are facing. Keep an eye on all your other dates too with the tax deadline tracker.

How this interacts with Self Assessment

The 60 day report is not the end of the story. If you normally complete a Self Assessment return, you still report the same disposal again on the CGT pages of your annual return after the tax year ends. The tax you already paid within 60 days is then credited against your final position. Why bother twice? Because the 60 day figure is an estimate based on what you knew at the time, and your final income for the year (which sets your 18% and 24% split) is only certain after 5 April. Sometimes you have overpaid and are due a refund; sometimes a little more is owed. Our self assessment tax calculator and payments on account calculator help you see the full-year picture, and the Self Assessment deadlines guide keeps the annual dates straight.

Common mistakes people actually make

• Counting from the wrong date. The 60 days run from completion, not from when you accepted an offer or exchanged contracts.
• Forgetting the report when no tax is due but a loss or part-relief still needs declaring in some cases. When in doubt, check.
• Using last year's annual exempt amount. It is £3,000 for 2026/27, not the higher figures from earlier years.
• Missing allowable costs such as the original stamp duty, both sets of legal fees, and genuine improvements, which all reduce the gain.
• Assuming a spouse's gain is automatic. Each person files their own report on their own share.
• Leaving the HMRC property account until the last minute and then losing days to identity verification.

How to use this CGT 60 day reporting calculator

The calculator on this page is built to give you a realistic figure in a couple of minutes. Enter the purchase price, the sale price, your allowable buying and selling costs, any qualifying improvement spend, and the period the property was your main home if relevant. Add your expected income for the year so the tool can split the gain correctly across the 18% and 24% bands, and tell it whether the property is jointly owned. It will then estimate your taxable gain after the £3,000 allowance and show the tax you are likely to pay within 60 days. Treat it as a strong working estimate to take to your accountant or to sense-check the figure HMRC's service produces, not as a formal filing.

Your next steps

If you have just completed a sale, diarise your 60 day deadline today and set up the HMRC UK property account this week. Gather your completion statement, original purchase paperwork, and receipts for improvements. Run your numbers through this calculator, then file and pay through your property account. After the tax year ends, repeat the disposal on your Self Assessment return so everything reconciles. For the wider rules, the capital gains tax rates 2026/27 guide is a useful companion, and the CGT share matching calculator covers gains on shares if those apply too.

A quick honest note: all figures here are for the 2026/27 tax year and are general guidance, not personal advice. Your own position can turn on small details such as periods of occupation, lettings relief and joint ownership, so please check your specific circumstances with HMRC or a qualified accountant before you file.