What you pay on a £50,000 gain
A £50,000 gain is the classic buy-to-let exit — a property bought before the 2010s and sold into today's prices. It is large enough that the exempt amount barely dents it, and large enough that the 60-day reporting clock catches unprepared sellers with a five-figure bill weeks after completion.
The £3,000 annual exempt amount comes off first, leaving £47,000 chargeable — on a gain this size the allowance is worth having but it is no longer the main event. The chargeable amount is stacked on top of your taxable income: the part inside the £37,700 basic-rate band is taxed at 18%, the rest at 24%. A higher-rate taxpayer therefore pays £11,280 and keeps £38,720; someone on a £20,000 income pays £9,464 on the identical gain. That £1,816 spread is decided entirely by income in the year of disposal, which is the one variable most people still have some control over.
CGT on £50,000 by your income
Income means your total income before tax for the year. The second column is how much of the £37,700 basic-rate band your income leaves unused, and therefore how much of the gain can be charged at 18% rather than 24%. Watch it shrink down the column: on a £45,000 income only £5,270 of the band is still open, so most of this gain lands at 24%.
| Your income | Basic band left | Gain at 18% | Gain at 24% | CGT | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £20,000 | £30,270 | £30,270 | £16,730 | £9,464 | £40,536 |
| £30,000 | £20,270 | £20,270 | £26,730 | £10,064 | £39,936 |
| £40,000 | £10,270 | £10,270 | £36,730 | £10,664 | £39,336 |
| £45,000 | £5,270 | £5,270 | £41,730 | £10,964 | £39,036 |
| £50,000 | £270 | £270 | £46,730 | £11,264 | £38,736 |
| £60,000 or more | £0 | £0 | £47,000 | £11,280 | £38,720 |
2026/27 figures. Annual exempt amount £3,000; rates 18% and 24% for disposals on or after 6 April 2026 (GOV.UK); personal allowance £12,570; basic-rate band £37,700. Assumes the whole gain falls in one tax year with no losses or reliefs.
How the gain stacks on your income
Capital gains are taxed last. Your income uses the personal allowance first and then eats into the basic-rate band; the gain is laid on top of whatever is left. That is why the same £50,000 gain produces very different bills for different people, and why one gain is routinely charged at two rates at once.
Worked through on a £20,000 income: the personal allowance covers £12,570, leaving £7,430 of taxable income, so £30,270 of the basic-rate band is unused. Take the £3,000 exempt amount off the gain and £47,000 is chargeable — £30,270 of it at 18% (£5,449) and £16,730 at 24% (£4,015), £9,464 in total. The effective rate across the whole gain is 18.9%, which is neither of the headline numbers.
Property or shares: the rates are the same now
This trips up anyone who last checked before autumn 2024. Residential property was taxed more heavily than investments for years — 18% and 28%, then 18% and 24% — while shares and funds sat at 10% and 20%. For disposals on or after 30 October 2024 the main rates rose to 18% and 24% and the residential rates were left unchanged, so the two now match. A £50,000 gain on a rental flat and a £50,000 gain on a share portfolio carry the same £11,280 bill for a higher-rate taxpayer in 2026/27.
Three real differences survive. Property has a hard 60-day reporting and payment deadline from completion, while investments go through Self Assessment or the real time service. Your own home is normally covered by Private Residence Relief — gov.uk's own wording is that you do not usually pay tax when you sell your home — and there is no equivalent for investments held outside a wrapper. And the deductible costs differ: stamp duty, legal fees and capital improvements come off a property gain, whereas a share gain runs through pooling and the share matching rules.
What the £3,000 exempt amount is worth
The annual exempt amount is £3,000 for 2026/27, the same as the two years before it and a long way below the £12,300 available in 2022/23. On a £50,000 gain it takes the chargeable amount down to £47,000 and saves £720 at 24%, about 6% of what the tax would otherwise be. Useful, but no longer the deciding factor at this size.
Two things follow. It cannot be carried forward, so an allowance not used by 5 April is lost. And it is per person: transfers between spouses and civil partners who live together are outside Capital Gains Tax altogether, so a holding moved across before the sale brings a second £3,000 and, just as valuable at this level, a second unused basic-rate band that can absorb part of the gain at 18%.
Business Asset Disposal Relief
Where a disposal qualifies, Business Asset Disposal Relief charges the gain at 18% rather than the main rates, up to a £1 million lifetime limit. On £50,000 that is £8,460 instead of £11,280 — £2,820 saved, and it uses £50,000 of the limit, leaving £950,000.
It is not automatic and it is not retrospective. It broadly covers selling all or part of a business, or shares in a personal trading company where you are an employee or officer, with conditions that must already be satisfied in the period before the sale. The rate has moved twice in two years — 10% on disposals up to 5 April 2025, 14% for 2025/26, 18% from 6 April 2026 — so the tax year of the disposal decides the rate. This is a question for an accountant before completion, not a box to tick afterwards.
The 60-day deadline, and the alternative
If the gain is on UK residential property, you must report it and pay within 60 days of completion. Not the following January — 60 days. On this gain that means finding £11,280 within two months of the sale, at exactly the point the proceeds are usually committed elsewhere. Interest and penalties follow if you miss it.
Everything else is gentler. You can use HMRC's real time Capital Gains Tax service, reporting by 31 December in the tax year after the gain and paying by 31 January, or put it on your Self Assessment return. You have to report at all once total taxable gains exceed the £3,000 allowance, and — if you are already in Self Assessment — whenever total proceeds from disposals exceed £50,000 in the tax year, however small the gain.
Reducing the bill legitimately
Four levers do most of the work at this level. Use both allowances: a transfer to a spouse or civil partner before the sale is not a disposal, and brings a second £3,000 plus a second slice of basic-rate band. Claim your losses: in-year losses come off gains before the allowance, and losses brought forward can be used down to the allowance — but only if they were claimed within four years of the end of the tax year of the disposal. Every £1,000 of loss is worth £240 here.
Use the tax year: where the asset can be sold in tranches, two disposals either side of 5 April use two allowances and two lots of basic-rate band. Check the cost base properly: on property, stamp duty, legal fees, agent's commission and capital improvements all reduce the gain, and Private Residence Relief covers any period the property was your main home — our guide to capital gains tax on a second property sets out what counts. Missing costs are the most common reason a bill is larger than it should be.
Buy-to-let: what actually counts as the gain
On a buy-to-let the taxable gain is rarely the number the owner has in mind. Start with the sale price, take off the original purchase price, then take off the stamp duty and legal fees you paid on the way in, the agent's commission and legal fees on the way out, and any capital improvements — an extension or a new bathroom where there was none, not repairs and repainting. If you lived in the property yourself at any point, Private Residence Relief covers that share of the ownership period, and gov.uk's own line is that you do not usually pay tax when you sell your home.
What is left is the £50,000 in this example — and the tax on it, £11,280 for a higher-rate taxpayer, is due within 60 days of completion. Landlords selling one property out of several should also check whether any earlier disposal produced a loss that was never claimed; see claiming capital losses.
Work out your own gain, costs and income
Capital gains tax calculator →Frequently asked questions
How much capital gains tax will I pay on a £50,000 gain?
A higher-rate taxpayer pays £11,280 in 2026/27: the £3,000 annual exempt amount comes off first, leaving £47,000 taxable, charged at 24%. A basic-rate taxpayer on a £20,000 income pays £9,464, because £30,270 of the gain still fits inside the unused basic-rate band at 18%. Your income decides the split.
Is the rate different for property and for shares?
No — not any more. Since 30 October 2024 the main rates for other chargeable assets rose from 10% and 20% to 18% and 24%, matching the residential property rates, which were left unchanged. For 2026/27 both are 18% and 24%. What still differs is the deadline: UK residential property must be reported and paid within 60 days of completion, while other gains go through Self Assessment or the real time service.
How does the gain interact with my salary?
The gain is stacked on top of your taxable income. Whatever is left of the £37,700 basic-rate band after your income is charged at 18%, and anything above it at 24%. On a £20,000 income, £30,270 of band is unused, so £30,270 of this gain is taxed at 18% and £16,730 at 24% — £9,464 in total, an effective 18.9% on the whole gain.
Can Business Asset Disposal Relief reduce this?
If the disposal qualifies, yes: BADR charges 18% for disposals on or after 6 April 2026, up to a £1 million lifetime limit. On £50,000 that is £8,460 instead of £11,280, a saving of £2,820. It applies to disposals of a business or of shares in a personal trading company, with conditions that must be met before the sale — check eligibility with an accountant in advance, not afterwards.