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The gain you have already worked out: proceeds less cost, less allowable expenses, less any losses. Enter one asset class at a time.

What did you dispose of?

One class at a time. If you disposed of more than one kind of asset this year, read the warning under the breakdown before you use this page — running it twice and adding the answers deducts the £3,000 exempt amount twice.

Your income

Employment, self-employment, pension and rental income, before any tax is taken off.

Dividends count. They sit below gains in the stack, so they use up basic-rate band before your gain reaches it.

Capital gains tax is not devolved. Scotland and Wales use the same capital gains rates and the same UK-wide basic-rate band, so this changes the income tax shown below, never the tax on your gain.

How your gain is taxed

Capital gains tax: £4,063.80

From your income to your taxable income

Income before tax£50,000.00
Less personal allowance used£12,570.00
Taxable income — what your gain stacks on£37,430.00
Income tax on that income (England or Northern Ireland)£7,486.00

The personal allowance is worked out by the same engine that computes income tax, so it tapers away above £100,000 without this page having to know that. Income tax is shown for context only — it is not part of the capital gains figure above.

Your gain stacks on top of your income

The basic rate for gains runs to £37,700 of taxable income. Yours is £37,430.00, which leaves £270.00 of basic-rate band for the gain to fall into. Everything above that is taxed at the higher rate — the same gain can be taxed at two rates at once.

The chargeable gain, band by band
BandGain in this bandRateTax
Basic rate£270.0018.00%£48.60
Higher rate£16,730.0024.00%£4,015.20
Total£17,000.00£4,063.80

Annual exempt amount

Exempt amount for 2026/27£3,000.00
Used by this gain£3,000.00
Left unused£0.00
Chargeable gain after it£17,000.00

The exempt amount is deducted from the gain before anything is taxed, and it does not use up any of your basic-rate band. Unused exemption cannot be carried forward.

Three things this figure does not know

It does not track your lifetime Business Asset Disposal Relief limit

Relief is capped at £1,000,000 of qualifying gains across your whole life, and this calculator has no memory of what you have claimed before. Gains above the cap are taxed at the ordinary capital gains rates instead of 18.00%, so if your earlier claims have used the cap up, the tax shown here is too low. Keep your own running total.

It answers for one asset class at a time

The £3,000 annual exempt amount is a single yearly allowance across all your disposals, and this page deducts it in full every time it runs. So if you sold shares and a rental property this year, do not run the page twice and add the answers — that deducts the exemption twice and understates your bill. A mixed year needs the exemption set against the gains taxed at the highest rate, which this page cannot do for you.

It does not work out the gain itself

You supply the gain; this page taxes it. There is no share matching here — no same-day rule, no 30-day bed-and-breakfast rule, no s104 pooling — and no relief for losses brought forward beyond what you have already subtracted. Work the gain out first, or ask an accountant to.

Worked example

Two people sell the same shareholding in 2026/27 and make the same £20,000 gain. They pay different amounts of capital gains tax, because the tax on a gain depends on the income underneath it.

Priya earns £50,000.00. Her personal allowance leaves £37,430.00 of taxable income, and the basic rate for gains runs to £37,700 — so only £270.00 of basic-rate band is left. After the £3,000 exempt amount, her chargeable gain is £17,000.00:

Priya’s gain, band by band
BandGain in bandRateTax
Basic rate£270.0018.00%£48.60
Higher rate£16,730.0024.00%£4,015.20
Capital gains tax£4,063.80

Sam earns £20,000.00. Their taxable income is £7,430.00, so far more of the basic-rate band is free and the same gain is taxed mostly at the lower rate:

Sam’s gain, band by band
BandGain in bandRateTax
Basic rate£17,000.0018.00%£3,060.00
Capital gains tax£3,060.00

Same asset, same gain, same year: £4,063.80 against £3,060.00. A calculator that asks whether you are a higher-rate taxpayer and applies one rate to the whole gain cannot produce either of these answers when the gain straddles the boundary, which it does for Priya.

Methodology and sources

The calculation, in order

  1. Start from the gain you entered. This page does not work the gain out for you.
  2. Deduct the annual exempt amount, once. What is left is the chargeable gain. The exempt amount does not use up any of your basic-rate band.
  3. Work out your taxable income: your income before tax, less the personal allowance the income tax engine says applies to it. Above £100,000 that allowance tapers, and the same engine that computes income tax handles it.
  4. Stack the chargeable gain on top of your taxable income. The part that falls below the basic-rate ceiling is taxed at the basic rate for gains; the rest at the higher rate. One gain can meet both.
  5. Gains qualifying for Business Asset Disposal Relief skip the stack entirely and are charged at a flat rate.

Rates and allowances

Figure2025/262026/27
Annual exempt amount£3,000£3,000
Basic-rate band for gains (taxable income)£37,700£37,700
Other assets — basic / higher18.00% / 24.00%18.00% / 24.00%
Residential property — basic / higher18.00% / 24.00%18.00% / 24.00%
Business Asset Disposal Relief14.00%18.00%
Relief lifetime limit (not applied by this page)£1,000,000£1,000,000
Personal allowance£12,570£12,570

Where the figures come from

The rates and allowances in the table above were verified against gov.uk on 12 August 2026. That check covers the published figures this page computes with. It does not verify any result the page produces, and it has not yet been signed off by a person — the verification recorded in the source repository is an automated one. Check anything that matters against gov.uk or with an accountant.

Everything is calculated in your browser. There is no application server and no database, so nothing you type here is transmitted or stored. A share link is the exception: it puts your figures in the URL, and opening one is an ordinary request that carries them to the host. More on what that means. Information, not advice.

Frequently asked questions

Does a capital gain push me into a higher income tax band?

No. A gain is stacked on top of your taxable income to decide which capital gains rate applies to it, but it is not income and it does not change the income tax you pay. What it can do is straddle the boundary: the part of the gain below the basic-rate ceiling is taxed at the basic rate for gains and the rest at the higher rate, so one gain is often taxed at two rates at once.

How much can I gain before I pay capital gains tax?

The annual exempt amount is £3,000 for 2026/27. It is a single allowance for the whole tax year across all your disposals, it is deducted before any tax is worked out, and any of it you do not use is lost — it cannot be carried forward.

Does the annual exempt amount use up my basic-rate band?

No. It is deducted from your gains before they are stacked on your income, so it does not consume basic-rate band. This is why the exempt part of a gain never pushes the rest of it into the higher rate.

I sold shares and a rental property this year — can I use this page twice?

No, and adding two runs together would understate your tax. Each run deducts a full annual exempt amount, so two runs deduct it twice. A year with disposals in more than one asset class needs the exemption set against the gains taxed at the highest rate and the remainder stacked in one calculation, which this page does not do.

Does this apply the £1 million Business Asset Disposal Relief lifetime limit?

No. The relief is capped at a lifetime total across every qualifying disposal you have ever made, and this calculator has no record of your earlier claims. If your claims have already used the cap up, gains above it are taxed at the ordinary capital gains rates and the figure this page shows is too low. Keep your own running total.

Do Scottish or Welsh taxpayers pay different capital gains tax?

No. Capital gains tax is not devolved: the rates, the annual exempt amount and the basic-rate band for gains are the same across the UK. Scottish income tax bands differ, but they do not change the capital gains rates your gain meets.

Does this calculator work out the gain itself?

No. You supply the gain and this page taxes it. There is no share matching — no same-day rule, no 30-day bed-and-breakfasting rule and no s104 pooling — so if you have been buying and selling the same holding, the gain you need to enter is not simply the sale price less what you paid for those particular shares.