Sold a second property: 60 days to report it to HMRC

The flat you let out for five years is sold. The money has landed, the deal is closed, and it feels as though HMRC's turn comes in the spring, with the usual tax return. That is the most expensive mistake in a British property sale: UK residential property has its own deadline, and it is short.

How long do you have to report to HMRC?

Sixty days. GOV.UK puts it plainly: if you sold a residential property in the UK with a completion date on or after 27 October 2021, you must report and pay within 60 days. For completions between 6 April 2020 and 26 October 2021, the window was 30 days.

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The guidance adds a line aimed squarely at anyone planning to wait: do not wait until the next tax year to report gains on UK residential property sold since 6 April 2020. You may have to pay interest and a penalty if you do.

What does the 60-day rule not cover?

Everything else. Other gains are reported in the tax year after you sold or disposed of the asset, through a Self Assessment return. If you are eligible, you can instead use the "real time" Capital Gains Tax service and report by 31 December in the tax year after the sale.

And the big exception: you do not usually pay tax when you sell your home. That is Private Residence Relief, and it applies to the property you actually live in, not to the one you rent out.

What is the tax actually charged on?

The gain, not the sale price. The Tax when you sell property guidance lists what falls in: buy-to-let properties, business premises, land, inherited property. Gifts to a husband, wife, civil partner or a charity are usually outside it.

From the gain you first deduct the tax-free allowance, the Annual Exempt Amount. It currently stands at £3,000, and £1,500 for trusts.

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What rate applies in 2026?

If you are a higher or additional rate Income Tax payer, you pay 24% on gains made from 6 April 2026.

If you are a basic rate taxpayer, the calculation runs in four steps. Work out your taxable income — your income minus your Personal Allowance and any other Income Tax reliefs. Work out your total taxable gains. Deduct the tax-free allowance from those gains. Then add what is left to your taxable income: the part that sits inside the basic Income Tax band is taxed at 18%, and anything above that band at 24%.

The practical point behind that arithmetic is that "I am a basic rate taxpayer" does not mean "I pay 18%". A substantial gain on a flat pushes you past the top of the basic band by itself, and the upper slice is charged at 24%.

What if you do not live in the UK?

The rule is stricter. A non-resident must report all sales of UK property or land, residential and non-residential alike, even if there is no tax to pay. Owing nothing does not remove the duty to report.

What should you have ready?

The completion date — the 60 days run from it, not from exchange and not from the day the money reached your account. Purchase and sale prices, the costs of buying and selling, and evidence of money spent on improvements. Your income figures for the year, without which you cannot tell 18% from 24%. And any losses on other assets, which can be set against the gain.

Sixty days means two months to gather paperwork, calculate and pay, all at once. Starting on day fifty-nine is already too late.