Capital Gains Tax on Property: The 60 Day Reporting Rule Explained
Property has been the biggest single theme in the enquiries reaching us this year. Buy to let sales, inherited houses, buyouts between family members, properties sitting inside companies. The tax on all of them turns on one deadline that catches people out, and it arrives far sooner than the January date most people have in their heads.
If you sell a UK residential property and there is Capital Gains Tax to pay, HMRC wants the report and the payment within 60 days of completion.
What the 60 day rule actually means
The clock starts on the completion date, not the exchange date, and it runs for 60 days. Inside that window you need to work out the gain, report it through a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account, and pay what is due.
That is a short window once you allow for tracking down the original purchase price, the legal and agent fees at both ends, and receipts for improvement work carried out over years of ownership. Those costs reduce the gain, so good records are worth real money here.
If you already file a Self Assessment return, the disposal goes on that return as well. Reporting it in both places is normal, not a duplication error.
When you may not need a 60 day return
Two common situations sit outside the rule.
If you are UK resident and your total gains for the year fall under the annual exempt amount, which is £3,000 for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, there is no 60 day return to file.
If the property was your only or main home for the whole time you owned it, Private Residence Relief will usually cover the gain. The words “whole time” matter. A period of letting, a spell working abroad, or a stretch when the house sat empty can each leave part of the gain exposed, which is worth checking rather than assuming.
If you live outside the UK, the rules are stricter
Non UK residents have to report every disposal of UK property or land within 60 days, even where there is no tax to pay, even where the sale made a loss, and even where they already file a Self Assessment return. It applies to residential, commercial, mixed use property and bare land.
This is the surprise we see most often in cross border cases. There is no small gain exemption from the reporting itself, and the obligation exists whatever the numbers turn out to be.
What you might actually pay
Residential property gains are taxed at 18 per cent to the extent they fall inside your basic rate band and 24 per cent above it. Both rates are unchanged for 2026 to 2027. Because the rate depends on your other income in the same tax year, the timing of a sale can move the bill on its own.
What late reporting costs
A missed 60 day return brings an initial £100 penalty, then daily penalties once the return is three months late, then a further charge of £300 or 5 per cent of the tax due, whichever is greater, at six months and again at twelve months. Interest runs on any unpaid tax alongside the penalties.
The planning happens before you sell, not afterwards
Once contracts complete, the gain is fixed and the work becomes arithmetic. Almost everything that changes the number happens earlier: which spouse owns what share, whether the disposal falls in this tax year or the next, whether losses elsewhere can be set against it, how a property held in a company is best extracted, and whether the structure you originally bought in still suits what you are doing now.
That is why we would far rather hear from you months before a sale than 55 days after one. Our specialist tax advice work starts with a proper look at the position, and we give you a clear price range before we begin so you know where you stand.
There is a second date worth noting if you sold during the 2025 to 2026 tax year and are not already in the system. You will need to register for Self Assessment by 5 October 2026, and that one is now close.
Talk to us early
We act for landlords, second home owners and property companies across the county, from accountants in Oxford to accountants in Didcot, and the pattern is consistent. Owners who come to us before exchange have choices. Owners who come to us afterwards have a calculation.
If a sale is on the horizon, or you have completed and the 60 days are already running, we can talk it through properly. You can also see our full range of accountancy services, and if you are weighing up how to hold the next property, whether you buy as a sole trader or a limited company changes the answer more than most people expect.