The 60-Day CGT Rule When You Sell a UK Residential Property

For most disposals, Capital Gains Tax is settled once a year through Self Assessment, alongside your income. UK residential property is the exception. Since April 2020, selling a residential property that is not covered by main-residence relief triggers a separate obligation: a standalone report to HMRC and a payment of the tax due, both within 60 days of completion. It sits outside the normal filing cycle, it catches out sellers who assume they have until the following January, and the penalties for missing it are their own charge on top of anything owed on the annual return.

When the 60-day rule applies

The rule bites when a UK resident disposes of UK residential property and there is a taxable gain to report. In practice that means a buy-to-let, a second home, a holiday property, an inherited house you sell rather than live in, or a former home that has not been your main residence for the whole period you owned it. A property that has been your only or main home throughout is usually covered in full by Private Residence Relief, so there is no gain to report and the 60-day clock never starts. The trigger is a chargeable gain, not the sale itself.

Whether a gain arises at all depends on the numbers. You deduct the original purchase price, the buying and selling costs such as legal fees and estate agent commission, and the cost of any capital improvements from the sale proceeds. The annual exempt amount of £3,000 for 2026/27 is then set against what remains. If the result is still positive, and the property is not fully sheltered by relief, a report is due. Landlords who also file the property pages each year should treat this as an addition to, not a replacement for, their usual rental income reporting, because the annual return still has to carry the same gain for reconciliation.

How the 60 days are counted

The deadline runs on calendar days from the completion date, not the exchange date and not the tax-year boundary. Completion on 1 March means the report and payment are due by 30 April. Completion on 20 December means the deadline falls on 18 February, straddling the year end but unaffected by it. Because it is calendar days rather than working days, bank holidays and weekends are included in the count, so a completion just before a long break gives you less usable time than the raw figure suggests.

You report through HMRC's online service by creating a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account, which is separate from your normal Self Assessment login. The return asks for the disposal proceeds, the acquisition cost, the improvement costs, any reliefs claimed, and an estimate of your income for the year so HMRC can work out whether the gain is taxed at the basic or higher rate. HMRC's step-by-step on how to report and pay the tax on a property gain walks through the account set-up, and an agent can file it for you if you would rather not create the account yourself.

What you actually pay

Residential property gains are taxed at 18% to the extent they fall within your remaining basic-rate band, and 24% above it, for 2026/27. The rate therefore depends on your income for the year, which is why the return asks you to estimate it. A basic-rate taxpayer with a modest gain may pay 18% on part and 24% on the rest, because the gain is stacked on top of income and can push part of it into the higher band. The tax you calculate on the 60-day return is a payment on account of the final figure; it is provisional because your actual income for the year is not yet known.

Because the rate turns on your income, a gain realised in a year when your other income is unusually low can cost less than the same gain in a high-income year. That is one of the levers a self-assessment accountant weighs up, alongside timing a sale across a tax-year boundary or making sure every allowable cost and improvement is captured before the return is filed.

The reconciliation with your annual return

The 60-day return does not end the matter. The same gain must also appear on your annual Self Assessment return for the tax year of the disposal, where it is recalculated against your actual income once the year is complete. If the 60-day payment turned out to be too high, the annual return produces a refund; if it was too low, the balance is collected. Anyone already inside Self Assessment cannot skip the annual reporting simply because they filed the 60-day return, and the wider CGT reporting rules for property, shares and crypto sit around this as the fuller picture of how each asset class is treated.

Missing the 60-day deadline carries a fixed £100 late-filing penalty, with further penalties if the delay runs on, and interest accrues on any tax paid late. The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group's explainer on the 60-day reporting rules for property disposals sets out the position for those who did not realise the obligation existed, which is a common reason the deadline is missed. The safest approach is to line up the figures before completion so the report can be filed promptly rather than pieced together under time pressure.

Common questions about the 60-day CGT rule

Does the 60-day rule apply if I sell my own home?

Usually not. If the property has been your only or main residence throughout your ownership, Private Residence Relief typically covers the whole gain, so there is nothing to report and the 60-day deadline does not apply. It applies where a taxable gain remains, such as on a buy-to-let or a home you did not live in for the whole period.

Is the deadline 60 working days or calendar days?

Calendar days, counted from the completion date. Weekends and bank holidays are included, so a completion shortly before a holiday period leaves less working time than the number of days suggests.

Do I still put the gain on my annual tax return?

Yes. The 60-day return is a provisional payment. The same gain is reported again on your Self Assessment return for that tax year and recalculated against your actual income, which can produce a refund or a further payment.

What if I make a loss on the property?

If the disposal produces a loss rather than a gain, there is no 60-day report to make because the rule is triggered by a chargeable gain. The loss is instead reported through your Self Assessment return, where it can be set against other gains.

The 60-day rule is less about the tax itself than about the calendar. The liability is the same either way; what changes is that a residential property gain has to be reported and paid within two months of completion rather than folded into the annual return. Getting the acquisition cost, improvements and reliefs assembled before completion is what turns a tight deadline into a routine filing, and it is the part where having the numbers ready in advance, through considered tax planning, keeps a property sale from turning into an avoidable penalty.