Capital gains tax (CGT) accountants for landlords selling a buy-to-let
You are selling a buy-to-let, a second home, or a home you lived in and later let out, and you want to know who to contact about the capital gains tax. Where tax is due, the return and the payment are owed within 60 days of completion. One of our property tax specialists looks first at the exchange date, because that fixes the tax year, the completion date, because that starts the 60-day clock, and whether the property was ever your only or main home, because that moves the figure most. The gain computation comes to you line by line, the return is prepared and filed, and the same figures carry into your self assessment. A sale anywhere in the UK can be handled this way, by video call, phone and email, often while the conveyancing is still running.
What lands on your desk
Capital gains tax on a buy-to-let sale
The 60-day return, and two dates that differ
If you are UK resident and tax is due on a UK residential disposal, the return and the payment are owed within 60 days of completion. Where the gain is fully covered by relief, losses or the annual exempt amount, no 60-day return is needed. Non-residents file for every UK land disposal either way. The disposal itself happens at exchange, so a March exchange with a May completion is a gain in the earlier tax year with the clock running from May. The deadline sequence and the penalties are here.
Working out the gain and what you can actually deduct
The list of deductible selling costs is a closed one: professional fees for a surveyor, valuer, auctioneer, accountant, agent or legal adviser, transfer costs including stamp duty, advertising for a buyer, and valuation costs needed for the computation. Improvement spending still reflected in the property at sale is deductible separately. Removals, storage, cleaning, cosmetic work, mortgage interest and early redemption charges are not. Start with the capital gains tax calculator for a first figure.
A former home, Private Residence Relief and lettings relief
If the property was at some point your only or main residence, relief covers the periods of occupation plus the final nine months of ownership, with further deemed occupation in defined situations such as working away. Lettings relief is the part people still get wrong: since 6 April 2020 it only applies where you shared occupation with the tenant, so a landlord who moved out and let the whole house gets none.
Rates and the annual exempt amount for 2026/27
Residential gains are taxed at 18% in the basic rate band and 24% above it, with trustees and personal representatives at 24% throughout. The annual exempt amount is £3,000 per person, down from £6,000 and from £12,300 before that, so an older worked example will understate your bill. It is per person and per tax year, which is why joint ownership and the exchange date both matter. The rate split and the joint-ownership saving are worked through in pounds for a second home sale.
Selling before or after incorporation, and company-held property
Section 162 incorporation relief is no longer automatic: for transfers on or after 6 April 2026 it must be claimed, and the election to disapply it has been repealed. Where the property already sits in a company there is no annual exempt amount and the company pays corporation tax on the gain, so selling the shares rather than the property changes the tax for both sides. That fork is set out here.
How we help
What a specialist reviews before and after you sell
A first review of the disposal before you commit
A specialist reviews the ownership history, the occupation periods, the intended exchange and completion dates and how the property is held. That tells you whether a 60-day return is required at all, which tax year the gain lands in, and whether the timing changes the outcome. Most useful before contracts are exchanged.
The gain computation, built line by line
Your accountant prepares the computation from documents rather than estimates: completion statements for purchase and sale, improvement spending you can evidence, the closed list of allowable selling costs, and the relief apportionment for any period the property was your main home. You get the working, not just a number.
The 60-day return prepared and filed
Where tax is due, a capital gains tax accountant who works only on property sets up the property account if you do not have one, prepares the return, tells you the payment figure and the date it is owed, and files inside the window. Where the gain is covered by relief, losses or the allowance, you get that conclusion in writing instead.
Carried through to your self assessment
The 60-day payment is on account, not the end of it. The same disposal goes on your self assessment for the year and the two must agree. Your buy-to-let accountant carries the computation forward, sets the payment against the final liability, and picks up capital losses brought forward or realised elsewhere.
Not sure which of these applies to you? A free consultation sets out where you stand, with no obligation.
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Frequently asked questions
Not if you are UK resident and no capital gains tax is due. Where the gain is fully covered by Private Residence Relief, by capital losses or by the annual exempt amount, there is no 60-day filing requirement, though you may still report the disposal on your self assessment return. Non-residents must file within 60 days for every disposal of UK land, whether or not any tax is payable.
The earlier one. The disposal happens when the contract is made, so a March exchange puts the gain in the tax year ending that 5 April, and that year's allowance and rate bands apply. The 60-day reporting and payment clock runs from completion in May instead. The two dates follow different rules and often sit in different tax years, which is why the exchange date is checked first.
The sale commission yes, the early repayment charge no. Deductible selling costs are a closed statutory list: professional fees, transfer costs including stamp duty, advertising for a buyer, and valuation costs for the computation. Interest and mortgage redemption charges are excluded, as are removals, storage and cosmetic work. If you cannot recover the VAT on a fee, deduct it inclusive of VAT. Letting agent management fees go against rental income, never against the gain.
Relief covers the period you occupied it as your only or main residence, plus the final nine months of ownership, with additional deemed occupation in defined circumstances such as working away. The remaining period is chargeable, apportioned by time. Lettings relief is narrow now: since 6 April 2020 it applies only where you shared occupation with your tenant. The relief is explained in more detail here.
Different transactions with different tax, and the answer turns on your portfolio rather than a rule of thumb. A transfer to your own company is itself a disposal at market value, with stamp duty on the company's acquisition. Incorporation relief can defer the gain but must be claimed for transfers on or after 6 April 2026, and it needs a genuine business rather than a single let. The worked calculation for a straight sale is here.
Largely, yes. A second home that was never your only or main residence carries no private residence relief, so the whole gain is in charge at 18% or 24% after the £3,000 annual exempt amount, and where tax is due the return and payment are owed within 60 days of completion. If it was your main home for a period, relief covers that period and the final nine months. The second home sale is worked through in pounds here.
Each owner is taxed on their own share of the gain, with their own £3,000 annual exempt amount and their own rate band, so a basic rate co-owner may have part of their share taxed at 18%. Where tax is due, each owner reports and pays on their own 60-day return. Spouses and civil partners living together can move a share between them before the sale at no gain and no loss, with the receiving partner taking over the original base cost, which is why the ownership split is worth reviewing before exchange rather than after.
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