Non-Resident CGT When Selling UK Property: The Overseas Seller's Guide

If you live abroad and you are selling UK property, the UK still taxes the gain. Being non-resident does not take a UK property disposal out of UK capital gains tax, and it adds a hard reporting deadline that catches people out: a 60-day CGT on UK property return for every disposal, whether or not any tax is due, including a sale at a loss. This guide is the operational walkthrough for an overseas seller, from confirming your status to paying HMRC in sterling. For the underlying regime architecture (TCGA 1992 s.1A, rebasing, indirect disposals, company gains) see our companion non-resident CGT rates and reporting page.

Three points do most of the damage in practice. First, the 60-day deadline runs from completion and applies even where relief wipes out the tax. Second, the gain is built in pounds sterling at historic exchange rates, so a flat foreign-currency result can still produce a UK gain. Third, reliefs are claimed, not automatic. Get those three right and the rest is paperwork.

Are you non-resident for CGT on this sale?

Your status is decided for the whole tax year in which completion falls, using the Statutory Residence Test (SRT) in Finance Act 2013 Schedule 45. It is not the simple 183-day rule many overseas sellers assume. You can be non-resident having spent more than 183 days here in an unusual year, or UK-resident on far fewer days if your UK ties are strong, and the test reads your status in the three preceding tax years as part of the calculation.

For a property disposal the practical risk is the opposite of what most sellers expect: people assume they are safely non-resident when a move back to the UK in the same tax year, or a heavy run of UK visits around the sale, can put them on the resident path instead. Because the test fixes one status for the entire year, the date of completion relative to your travel pattern matters.

What the SRT actually weighs

• Days in the UK: counted under the automatic and sufficient-ties tests, with the day-count thresholds varying by how many ties you have.
• UK ties: family, available accommodation, UK work, more than 90 days in either of the two previous years, and (for leavers) the country-tie.
• Prior residence: your status in the three preceding tax years changes the day-count bands you are tested against.
• Full-time work abroad: the third automatic overseas test can settle status decisively if the hours and UK-day limits are met.

If the year of disposal is finely balanced, settle the status question before you exchange, not after. Our Statutory Residence Test decision tree for landlords walks the cascade, and the wider exit position sits in our leaving the UK pre-departure checklist.

The rules for non-residents on a UK property sale: rates and the gain

Non-resident individuals pay CGT on UK residential property at 18 per cent and 24 per cent for 2026/27, the same rates as UK residents since the unification on 30 October 2024 (TCGA 1992 s.1H), when the main rates rose to match the unchanged residential rates. The £3,000 annual exempt amount applies to non-resident individuals. The rate split is not a flat choice: the gain stacks on top of your UK taxable income, so the part that fits inside your unused basic-rate band is taxed at 18 per cent and the rest at 24 per cent.

Seller	Residential rate(s)	Annual exempt amount	60-day return required?
Non-resident individual	18% then 24% (band-dependent)	£3,000	Yes, for every disposal
Non-resident trustee / personal representative	24% flat	£1,500 (trustees)	Yes, for every disposal
Non-resident company	25% corporation tax on the gain	Not applicable	No (CT600 instead)

The band point matters far more for non-residents than people expect. A non-resident with little or no UK income carries most of the basic-rate band unused, so a large slice of the gain falls at 18 per cent. UK rental profit (including amounts that went through the Non-Resident Landlord scheme) does count as UK income and eats into that 18 per cent room, but foreign income generally does not. The result is that a long-let overseas landlord often pays a lower blended rate than a UK higher-rate taxpayer on the same gain.

Building the gain in sterling

The chargeable gain is sale proceeds, less the original cost, acquisition and disposal costs, and capital improvements:

• Acquisition costs: the purchase price, legal fees, the SDLT (or LTT in Wales, LBTT in Scotland) you paid, and survey fees.
• Disposal costs: estate agent commission, sale legal fees, and reasonable marketing costs.
• Capital improvements: extensions, a new kitchen or bathroom where it is an improvement, and similar enhancements that are still reflected in the property at sale. Routine repairs and ordinary landlord running costs are not deductible against the gain; they belong on the rental computation.

Two non-resident-specific points sit on top. First, for residential property you held on 5 April 2015, the default is to rebase to the market value on that date, so only the growth since April 2015 is taxed (alternative computations exist; see the rates and reporting page). Second, every figure must be converted to pounds sterling at the exchange rate for the date of that transaction. Sterling can move a long way over a holding period, and that movement alone can manufacture a UK gain even where the local-currency numbers are flat. This is the most common way an overseas seller is surprised by a bill.

Worked example: a Dubai-based seller

Take an individual tax-resident in the UAE (no local CGT) who bought a Manchester flat in June 2016 for £230,000 (including £8,000 of acquisition costs) and sells in 2026/27 for £330,000, with £6,000 of agent and legal costs on the sale and a £12,000 capital improvement over the years. The sterling gain is £330,000 less (£230,000 + £6,000 + £12,000) = £82,000. Deduct the £3,000 annual exempt amount, leaving £79,000 chargeable. Suppose the seller has £9,270 of UK rental profit for the year. That £9,270 sits below the £12,570 personal allowance, so taxable income is nil and none of the £37,700 basic-rate band is used up, leaving the full £37,700 band available at 18 per cent (the basic-rate band is £37,700; the higher-rate threshold of £50,270 is that band plus the £12,570 personal allowance). The first £37,700 of gain is taxed at 18 per cent (£6,786) and the remaining £41,300 at 24 per cent (£9,912), a total of £16,698, due within 60 days of completion. Because the UAE levies no CGT, there is no foreign credit to claim, but the 60-day UK return is still mandatory.

For a full step-by-step computation including band-stacking variations, our CGT on selling a buy-to-let property guide carries the long-form workings, and the property CGT calculator gives a quick estimate.

Reliefs an overseas seller can claim

Reliefs are claimed on the return, not applied for you. The ones that matter most on a non-resident disposal are these.

Private Residence Relief if it was ever your home

If the UK property was your only or main home for part of your ownership, Private Residence Relief shelters the gain for those periods plus the final 9 months automatically. For periods of non-residence after April 2015, you generally have to meet the 90-day occupation test (you, or a spouse or civil partner, must spend at least 90 nights in the property in the relevant tax year) for that year to count as occupation. PRR can be substantial for someone who lived in the property before emigrating, but it has to be evidenced and claimed.

Letting Relief: rarely available now

Letting Relief still exists but in a much narrower form since Finance Act 2020 amended TCGA 1992 s.223B. It is now only available where the property qualified for PRR and you shared occupation with the tenant during the let period. The pre-April-2020 version, which extended up to £40,000 of relief to any property that had ever been your main home, no longer applies, and most landlord lettings do not meet the shared-occupation condition.

Double-taxation relief where your home country also taxes the gain

Where your country of residence taxes the same disposal, a double-taxation agreement usually gives the UK first call on gains from UK land and your home country gives credit for the UK tax (the OECD Model Article 13 pattern). In substance you pay the higher of the two overall charges. The UK 60-day filing obligation does not switch off because a treaty exists; you still file in the UK as the country where the land sits. The mechanics differ country by country, and our foreign tax credit guide for overseas landlords sets out the credit calculation.

How to report and pay: the 60-day process step by step

The return is filed online through HMRC's CGT on UK property service. You do not wait for the annual Self Assessment cycle; the 60-day clock runs from completion independently.

1. Set up access. Create a Government Gateway account if you do not have one, then a CGT on UK property account. If an agent files for you, they need authorisation linked to that account, which can take time to arrange, so start early.
2. Assemble the figures. Sterling proceeds, sterling base cost, all allowable costs, improvement spend, any April 2015 rebasing valuation, and your exchange-rate evidence.
3. Compute the gain and reliefs. Apply rebasing, then PRR, then the £3,000 annual exempt amount, then split the remaining gain across the 18 per cent and 24 per cent bands.
4. File within 60 days of completion even if the result is a loss or no tax is due.
5. Pay in sterling within the same 60-day window. From overseas, allow time for an international transfer to clear; HMRC accepts SWIFT payment to its account, payment from a UK account, or payment via a UK agent.

Information you will need on the return

• Property address, completion date and sale proceeds.
• Original purchase date and cost, plus all allowable costs and improvements.
• Your UK address (if any) and overseas address.
• National Insurance number or Unique Taxpayer Reference, if you have one.
• The relief claims you are making and the figures supporting them.

If you owe both a 60-day return and an annual Self Assessment return in the same year (for example because you also have UK rental income), the 60-day payment is credited against the final position; you do not pay twice. The deadlines mechanics are in our CGT payment deadlines guide.

Selling more than one UK property

Each disposal carries its own 60-day return, but the tax is worked out across the year. If you sell three properties making gains of £50,000 and £30,000 and a loss of £20,000, the net is £60,000; deduct the £3,000 annual exempt amount and £57,000 is chargeable. Losses on UK land disposals offset gains on other UK land in the same year and carry forward against future UK land gains, which is one reason the loss-making sale still has to be reported. Spreading disposals across tax years to use more than one annual exempt amount is a legitimate timing lever where your circumstances allow it.

If you hold through an overseas company

The individual rates do not apply to a company. A non-resident company disposing of UK land is inside UK corporation tax on the gain under TCGA 1992 s.2B (inserted by Finance Act 2019) at the 25 per cent main rate, files a CT600 rather than a 60-day return, and may sit within the Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) regime where a dwelling is worth more than £500,000. The pre-2019 ATED-related CGT charge was repealed. Whether an overseas company is the right wrapper at all is a structuring question, not a disposal question; our buy-to-let limited company guide covers the trade-offs, and the company-gains mechanics are in the non-resident CGT rates and reporting page.

Where overseas sellers go wrong

• Missing the 60-day deadline. The most expensive and most avoidable error. The return is due even with no tax to pay. Diarise it at exchange, not completion.
• Treating the gain as a foreign-currency number. The sterling conversion at historic rates is mandatory, and currency movement can create a gain that is invisible in local currency.
• Assuming PRR is automatic for an old home. The post-2015 90-day occupation test and the claim requirement both bite; relief has to be claimed and evidenced.
• Getting residence status wrong. A move back to the UK, or a heavy visit pattern, in the year of disposal can flip you onto the resident path for the whole year.
• Forgetting the buy-side surcharge interaction is separate. If you later buy again as a non-resident, the 2 per cent non-resident SDLT surcharge is a different regime and has no bearing on the CGT return.

Planning before you sell

The levers that actually move the number are timing and status. Choosing the tax year of completion against your other UK income changes how much of the gain falls at 18 per cent. Spreading multiple disposals across years uses more than one annual exempt amount. And confirming residence status before exchange avoids the worst surprise of all, finding the whole year was resident. If you left the UK within the last five years, check the temporary non-residence recapture rule in our s.10A recapture guide before you sell, because returning to the UK can pull the gain back into charge.

Start the record-keeping before you market the property: you will need cost documentation going back to purchase, plus exchange-rate evidence and residence working papers. Our CGT record-keeping guide lists exactly what to retain and for how long.

When to get specialist help

Non-resident CGT rewards getting the detail right and punishes guesswork, because the penalties for a late or wrong 60-day return are fixed and immediate. It is worth taking advice where your residence status for the year is finely balanced, where the property was once your home and PRR is in play, where another country also taxes the gain, where you hold through a company or trust, or where the gain is large enough to make timing across tax years worthwhile. The interaction of UK rules, your home-country tax and the SRT is exactly the territory where a specialist earns their keep.