UK Capital Gains Tax rates from April 2026: what is new for 2026-27
If you are filing Self Assessment for 2026-27, the main CGT rates have not changed. Basic rate taxpayers pay 18% on gains. Higher and additional rate taxpayers pay 24%. The annual exempt amount is still £3,000. For most people selling shares, funds, or crypto, the tax bill works the same way it did for 2025-26.
So what is actually new? Three things, in order of who they affect:
- Business Asset Disposal Relief and Investors' Relief finally hit 18%.
- Carried interest is no longer taxed under CGT — it moves into income tax.
- A handful of niche updates to trust and rebasing rules that most readers can skip.
This post walks through each one and tells you whether it touches your return.
The rate table you actually need
| Tax year | Basic rate | Higher rate | BADR / IR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 (before 30 Oct) | 10% | 20% | 10% |
| 2024-25 (from 30 Oct) | 18% | 24% | 10% |
| 2025-26 | 18% | 24% | 14% |
| 2026-27 | 18% | 24% | 18% |
The big jump for main CGT rates happened mid-2024-25. By 2026-27 we are two full years into the new schedule, so if you have already filed a 2025-26 return you know the drill. The BADR column is the only one that moves this year.
BADR is now 18%
Business Asset Disposal Relief used to be a flat 10%. It went to 14% for 2025-26 and lands at 18% from 6 April 2026, matching the standard basic CGT rate.
On a £400,000 qualifying gain (after the AEA), the tax is £56,000 at the 2025-26 rate and £72,000 at the 2026-27 rate. That is £16,000 more on the same disposal because of when it completes.
For basic rate taxpayers, BADR no longer saves anything — the relief rate matches the standard basic rate. Higher and additional rate taxpayers still come out ahead by 6 percentage points (18% vs 24%), so the relief is worth claiming if you qualify. Investors' Relief follows the same path: 14% in 2025-26, 18% from April 2026.
We have covered BADR in more detail in a separate post — qualifying conditions, the £1 million lifetime limit, and the anti-forestalling rules around contract dates.
Carried interest leaves CGT
This one affects fund managers, not retail investors. From 6 April 2026, qualifying carried interest is taxed as trading income — income tax plus Class 4 NICs — rather than under CGT. A 72.5% multiplier is applied to the qualifying amount before tax. Interim measures had already raised the CGT rate on carried interest to 32% for 2025-26.
If you are a private equity or hedge fund partner, your accountant is on this. If you are not, skip ahead.
Trust and rebasing changes
HMRC updated a handful of Capital Gains Manual pages in April 2026 — employee ownership trusts (CG67801), holdover relief in the context of the temporary repatriation facility for non-doms (CG67033), and rebasing elections for s.86 trust charges (CG38530). These are narrow areas. If you are a UK-resident retail investor selling shares or crypto, none of them apply.
A worked example for a typical 2026-27 disposal
Say you sold shares for £20,000 in June 2026 with a cost basis of £12,000.
- Gain: £8,000
- Annual exempt amount: £3,000
- Taxable: £5,000
If you are a basic rate taxpayer, the tax is £5,000 × 18% = £900. If you are a higher or additional rate taxpayer, it is £5,000 × 24% = £1,200. This is the same arithmetic as 2025-26.
One thing worth checking: your CGT band depends on your taxable income for the year. If the gain pushes you across the basic rate threshold, the portion above the threshold is taxed at 24%, even when your income alone keeps you in basic rate. HMRC explains the band calculation on their rates page.
What has not changed
- Section 104 pooling rules
- Same-day and 30-day matching rules
- The £3,000 annual exempt amount (£1,500 for most trusts)
- Exempt assets: ISAs, gilts, principal residence, gambling winnings, personal possessions under £6,000
- The Self Assessment deadline: 31 January 2028 for 2026-27, or real-time CGT reporting if you prefer
If you are working through a return for the first time, our documentation explains how the calculator handles each of these.
Common mistakes
Assuming there is a mid-year rate split. The 30 October 2024 split was a one-off. 2025-26 and 2026-27 each have a single set of rates that apply from the first day of the tax year.
Using last year's BADR rate. If your accountant computed BADR at 14% for a 2025-26 disposal, that is correct for that year. For 2026-27 it is 18%. The rate is set by disposal date, not by when you signed contracts — though unconditional contracts are treated as disposed on the contract date.
Forgetting the AEA did not go up. It has been £3,000 since 2024-25. Some older commentary still references the £12,300 or £6,000 figures. Those are out of date.
Treating crypto as different. Crypto is taxed at the same rates as shares: 18% / 24%. There is no crypto-specific carve-out.
How to figure out your gain
Our calculator computes the gain on each disposal — pooling, same-day, 30-day matching, FX conversion for USD broker statements, the lot. You apply the 2026-27 rate to the taxable amount yourself when filling out SA108.
If you use Trading 212, Freetrade, Schwab, or Morgan Stanley, upload your CSV and the calculator returns the SA108 boxes ready to copy across.