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Find out more'If I have no income, will I pay tax when I sell an asset?'
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I’m a non-taxpayer but I recently sold an asset and made a capital gain of £15,000.
Will this be set against my unused personal allowance of £12,570, so I only have to pay capital gains tax on the remaining £2,430?
A Which? Money member
'Unfortunately you're thinking of the wrong tax allowance'
Samantha Galloway, Which? money expert, says…
Unfortunately not: your personal allowance of £12,570 is used purely for income (including savings interest payments), not gains.
Everyone has a separate capital gains tax allowance of £3,000 per tax year, which you can use against gains made in that period. You can’t carry forward any previous unused capital gains allowances.
Everyone has a capital gains tax allowance of £3,000 per tax year
In your case, the £12,000 that exceeds your capital gains tax allowance would be taxed at the basic rate of 18%, giving a bill of £2,160.
Other readers should consider staggering any sales above their capital gains allowance over several tax years.
- Find out more: Capital gains tax rates and allowances
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