Capital Gains Tax Rates 2025/26: UK Rates, BADR and What Changes from 6 April 2026

Capital gains tax rates settled down in 2025/26 after two years of change, but one big move is still coming. If you sell shares, a business, crypto or any other chargeable asset this year, the main rates are 18% and 24%. If your disposal qualifies for Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR), the rate is 14% now and rises to 18% from 6 April 2026. That single change is the reason timing matters this year.

This guide covers the capital gains tax rates 2025/26 in full: the rates by asset and taxpayer, what changes for 2026/27, the £3,000 annual exempt amount, worked examples with the actual arithmetic, losses, spouse transfers, and the HMRC reporting requirements and deadlines that apply through 2026 and into 2027.

UK Capital Gains Tax Rates 2025/26 and 2026/27: The Full Table

Since 30 October 2024 the same two main rates apply to all chargeable assets. There is no longer a separate, higher residential property rate: shares, business assets, crypto and residential property all use 18% and 24%.

Asset / taxpayer	Rate within basic rate band	Rate above basic rate band	2026/27
Shares and securities (individuals)	18%	24%	Unchanged
Business assets, goodwill, crypto and other chargeable assets	18%	24%	Unchanged
Residential property (not your main home)	18%	24%	Unchanged
Qualifying disposals with BADR	14% flat		18% from 6 Apr 2026
Qualifying disposals with Investors' Relief	14% flat		18% from 6 Apr 2026
Trustees and personal representatives	24% flat		Unchanged

Which main rate you pay depends on your taxable income. Add the chargeable gain (after the £3,000 exempt amount) on top of your taxable income: the part of the gain that fits inside your unused basic rate band (up to £50,270 of income plus gains) is taxed at 18%, and the rest at 24%. BADR gains are taxed at a flat 14% in 2025/26 regardless of your income, but they still use up your basic rate band first when other gains are also in play.

CGT is a UK-wide tax, so Scottish and Welsh taxpayers use the same rates and the same UK £50,270 basic rate limit for the band test, whatever their income tax bands say.

What Changes from 6 April 2026 (2026/27)

The 2026/27 picture is mostly stability with one expensive exception:

• Main rates: unchanged. 18% and 24% continue.
• Annual exempt amount: unchanged. £3,000 for 2026/27, the same as 2025/26.
• BADR: rises from 14% to 18% for disposals on or after 6 April 2026. This is the final step in the schedule set at Autumn Budget 2024: 10% to 5 April 2025, 14% for 2025/26, 18% from 2026/27. Investors' Relief follows the same schedule.

Once BADR reaches 18%, a qualifying business disposal by a higher rate taxpayer saves only 6 percentage points against the standard 24% rate. In 2025/26 the saving is 10 points. On large gains that difference is real money, as the worked example below shows. If a sale is already in progress, the tax point is normally the date of the unconditional contract, so completing before 6 April 2026 locks in 14%. Our guide to the BADR 2026 rate change covers the timing rules in more detail.

Business Asset Disposal Relief: 14% Now, 18% from April 2026

BADR gives a reduced CGT rate on qualifying business disposals, up to a £1 million lifetime limit per individual (fixed since March 2020, not indexed). For 2025/26 the rate is 14%.

The conditions must be met throughout the 2 years ending with the disposal:

• Sole traders and partners: disposing of the whole or part of the business (or qualifying assets within 3 years of cessation), with the business trading.
• Share sales: the company is your personal company (at least 5% of ordinary share capital and voting rights, plus a 5% economic entitlement), it is a trading company, and you are an officer or employee throughout.

BADR is a claim, not an automatic relief: you claim it on your self assessment return. Miss the claim and you pay the standard rates. If you have used part of your lifetime limit on earlier disposals, only the remaining balance qualifies. For the full conditions and the traps around cessation, dilution and cash reserves, see our guide to selling a business: CGT and BADR.

Worked Example: The Same Sale Before and After 6 April 2026

A director sells her trading company shares for a qualifying gain of £400,000, well within her £1 million lifetime limit. Annual exempt amount £3,000, so the chargeable gain is £397,000.

• Completion in 2025/26: £397,000 at 14% = £55,580.
• Completion on or after 6 April 2026: £397,000 at 18% = £71,460.

Waiting past 5 April 2026 costs £15,880 on this gain. Without BADR at all, a higher rate taxpayer would pay £397,000 at 24% = £95,280, so the relief is still worth claiming in 2026/27, just worth less.

How the 18% and 24% Bands Work: A Share Disposal Example

A consultant has taxable income of £40,000 in 2025/26 (after the personal allowance). She sells shares held outside an ISA for a gain of £30,000. The shares do not qualify for BADR.

1. Deduct the annual exempt amount: £30,000 minus £3,000 = £27,000 chargeable.
2. Find the unused basic rate band: £50,270 minus £40,000 = £10,270.
3. Tax the band portion at 18%: £10,270 x 18% = £1,848.60.
4. Tax the excess at 24%: £27,000 minus £10,270 = £16,730 x 24% = £4,015.20.

Total CGT: £5,863.80. The same gain realised by an additional rate taxpayer (no basic rate band left) would be £27,000 at 24% = £6,480. A pension contribution or gift aid donation extends the basic rate band, which can pull more of a gain into the 18% rate: worth modelling before a disposal, not after.

Annual Exempt Amount 2025/26 and 2026/27: £3,000

The annual exempt amount (the CGT allowance) is £3,000 for 2025/26 and stays at £3,000 for 2026/27. It was £6,000 in 2023/24 and £12,300 as recently as 2022/23, so far more small disposals are now taxable than a few years ago.

Each individual has their own £3,000. It cannot be carried forward: unused allowance is lost at the end of the tax year. If you hold appreciating shares or funds outside an ISA, realising gains up to the exempt amount each year washes out growth tax free, but watch the share matching rules: repurchasing the same shares within 30 days matches the sale to the repurchase and undoes the disposal for CGT purposes.

Losses and Spouse Transfers: The Two Free Levers

Capital Losses

Losses on chargeable assets offset gains, but the ordering matters:

• Same-year losses are set against same-year gains automatically, even if that wastes the £3,000 exempt amount. You cannot choose to hold them back.
• Brought-forward losses are used only to bring net gains down to the exempt amount, so they are never wasted.
• Claim the loss. A loss must be claimed, normally on your return, within 4 years of the end of the tax year it arose in. An unclaimed loss cannot be used later.

Where you have both BADR gains and standard-rate gains, set losses and the exempt amount against the standard-rate (24%) gains first: relief at 24% beats relief at 14%.

Spouse and Civil Partner Transfers

Transfers between spouses and civil partners are no gain no loss: the recipient inherits the original base cost and no CGT arises on the transfer. Moving an asset into joint names before a sale means two £3,000 exempt amounts, two basic rate bands, and potentially two BADR lifetime limits where each spouse independently meets the conditions. The transfer must be outright and genuine. Transfers to anyone other than a spouse (adult children, for example) are disposals at market value, and gifts of shares carry their own rules: see gifting shares to a family member and CGT.

Residential Property CGT in Brief

UK residential property that is not your main home (a buy-to-let, second home or inherited property) is taxed at the same 18% and 24% rates as everything else in 2025/26, with the same £3,000 exempt amount. Two things are different about property:

• The 60-day rule. A UK residential property gain must be reported on HMRC's online property return and the CGT paid within 60 days of completion. This is separate from, and earlier than, your self assessment return.
• Non-residents. Non-UK residents pay CGT on UK residential property at the same 18% and 24% rates and are within the same 60-day reporting rule.

Your main home is normally covered by Private Residence Relief. Landlord-specific questions (lettings relief, periods of absence, incorporation of a portfolio) go beyond a rates guide and deserve specific advice.

Crypto, Investors' Relief and Other Assets

Crypto is a chargeable asset: disposals (including swapping one token for another and spending crypto) are taxed at the standard 18% and 24% rates with the £3,000 exempt amount, and the share matching rules apply to tokens. Active traders should read our guide for crypto traders.

Investors' Relief mirrors the BADR schedule: 14% for 2025/26, 18% from 6 April 2026, with a £1 million lifetime limit (cut from £10 million for disposals from 30 October 2024). It applies to newly subscribed shares in unlisted trading companies held for at least 3 years, typically angel investors rather than working directors.

Exempt assets never enter the CGT computation at all: ISAs and pensions, gifts to your spouse or to charity, cars and other wasting chattels, personal possessions sold for £6,000 or less, and UK government gilts and qualifying corporate bonds.

HMRC CGT Reporting Requirements and Deadlines for 2026

How and when you report depends on the asset:

Disposal	How to report	Deadline
UK residential property (with tax to pay)	Online 60-day property return	File and pay within 60 days of completion
Shares, business assets, crypto, other assets (2025/26)	Self assessment, SA108 pages	Online return and payment by 31 January 2027
Non-property gain, not in self assessment	HMRC real time CGT service	By 31 December after the tax year

You must report where total gains exceed £3,000, or where proceeds are large enough that HMRC asks for the disposal to be shown even if no tax is due (and always where you want to claim a loss). Late property returns start at a £100 penalty with interest on unpaid tax; late self assessment carries the usual filing and payment penalties. A property gain reported in the 60-day window still goes on your self assessment return afterwards, with the tax already paid credited against the final figure.

Common Mistakes with the 2025/26 Rates

• Using the old rates. The 20% higher rate on shares and the 28% residential rate are gone. Everything is 18% and 24% now, and BADR is no longer 10%.
• Assuming BADR applies automatically. It is a claim on your return, and the 2-year conditions are tested to the day. Selling at 23 months fails entirely.
• Missing the 60-day property window. The self assessment deadline does not extend it.
• Wasting losses against 14% gains. Order losses and the exempt amount against 24% gains first.
• No cost records. Acquisition costs, incidental costs and enhancement expenditure all reduce the gain, but only if you can evidence them.
• Forgetting the band interaction with dividends. Dividend income uses up basic rate band before your gains are stacked, which can push more of a gain into 24%. The 2026/27 dividend rate rise makes the extraction-versus-disposal timing worth modelling together.

Final Thoughts on Capital Gains Tax Rates 2025/26

The main rates are stable: 18% and 24% this year and next, with a £3,000 exempt amount. The live planning question is BADR. A qualifying disposal completed by 5 April 2026 is taxed at 14%; the same disposal a day later is taxed at 18%. If you are a director or business owner already in sale discussions, that 4-point gap is worth £4,000 per £100,000 of gain, and exit structuring (including a company share buyback or a members' voluntary liquidation) has its own conditions that take time to satisfy.

At Holloway Davies we model disposals under both years' rates, check BADR eligibility against the 2-year tests, and handle the 60-day and self assessment reporting. If you are planning a sale, get in touch before you exchange, not after.

For more on related topics, see our guides on exit and capital gains planning and director pay and dividends.