Selling UK property as a non-resident: capital gains tax and the 60-day return

Living abroad doesn't take your UK house out of HMRC's reach. Sell it and a 60-day clock starts the day the sale completes, tax or no tax.

The short version

• Non-residents have paid UK capital gains tax on residential property sold since 6 April 2015, and on all UK land and property since 6 April 2019 [1].
• You must report every sale of UK property or land on a CGT on UK Property return within 60 days of completion, even if there's no tax to pay or you made a loss [2][3].
• Any tax is paid within the same 60 days [2].
• For homes you owned before April 2015, you normally only pay tax on the growth since 5 April 2015 [1][3].
• Private residence relief can still cover the years you lived there, plus the final nine months. A 90-day test can limit it for the years you've been abroad [4][5].

What's taxed, and since when

Before 2015, a Brit who left the UK and later sold their house in Reading usually paid no UK capital gains tax at all. That loophole has gone, in two stages [1]:

The rules apply to all of the UK. There's no separate Scottish or Welsh capital gains tax.

The 60-day return

This is the bit people miss. You report the sale online through a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account, which you create the first time you sign in [2]. The deadline is 60 days after completion, which is the date you stopped owning the property, not the date contracts were exchanged [2].

As a non-resident, you report all sales and disposals of UK property or land, even when no tax is due [2]. A loss still needs a return [3]. Miss the deadline and HMRC can charge interest and penalties [2].

What you need, step by step

1. Before you list the house, find the purchase price and date, plus receipts for improvements (an extension, a new kitchen; not the repainting) and buying and selling costs: stamp duty, solicitors, estate agents.
2. Get a 5 April 2015 valuation if you bought before then. A RICS-registered surveyor can value a property at a past date. Do it before the sale, while the house still looks like it did.
3. On completion, note the exact date. That's day one of 60.
4. Sign in or create your CGT on UK property account and fill in the address and postcode, purchase and sale dates and values, and costs [2]. Paper returns exist for those who can't go online.
5. Pay any tax due within the same 60 days, using the payment reference HMRC gives you [2].
6. If you file Self Assessment, include the sale there too, with your 60-day return reference, and the tax you've paid counts against the final bill [2][3].

If you have a solicitor or accountant, they can file for you once you've authorised them. Your conveyancer won't do it automatically, so ask.

Working out the gain

For a home you owned before 6 April 2015, you have three options for residential property [1][3]:

• Rebasing (the default). Use the market value at 5 April 2015 as your cost. Only improvement costs from that date count.
• Time apportionment. Work out the gain over your whole ownership, then tax only the share of days after 5 April 2015.
• The whole gain. Occasionally useful, for example where it produces a loss you want to use.

You can pick whichever works best, and a tax adviser who knows both countries can run the numbers.

An example

Say you bought a house in 2008 for £200,000, never lived in it, it was worth £300,000 on 5 April 2015, and you sell it in 2026/27 for £400,000. Ignoring costs, the rebased gain is £100,000. Take off the £3,000 annual exempt amount and £97,000 is taxable. If all of that falls in the higher rate band, at 24% that's £23,280. Under time apportionment, the £200,000 whole-period gain would be split by days before and after April 2015 instead. These figures are made up to show the method, not typical prices.

Rates and the annual exempt amount

Gains on residential property are taxed at 18% or 24%, depending on how much of your basic rate band your UK income leaves free [3][6]. As a non-resident, you work this out using your taxable UK income only [1].

Sources: HS307 for 2025/26 rates, HMRC's rates and allowances table for the exempt amount, Budget 2026 Annex A for 2026/27 [3][6][7]. Budget 2026 also lists the same rates and exempt amount for 2027/28 [6].

Joint owners each report their own share, and each has their own exempt amount.

Private residence relief from abroad

If the house was your home at some point, private residence relief can still knock a big chunk off the gain.

• The final nine months of ownership are always covered if the property was your only or main residence at some point, whatever happened to it in those months [4].
• Absences can count as living there. Up to three years in total for any reason, and any length of time while you're employed with all your duties abroad [4]. These usually need you to have lived there before and after the absence, with some easing if your job keeps you away.
• Lettings relief now only applies if you shared the home with a lodger while living in it, up to £40,000. It doesn't help if you let the whole house [4].

The 90-day test

Here's the catch for Brits abroad. Since the 2015 changes, a UK home only counts as your residence for a tax year in which you're not UK resident if you, or your spouse or civil partner, spent at least 90 nights in it (or in other homes in the UK) in that tax year [5]. A day counts if you're there at midnight. If you and your partner are both there, it's one day, not two [5].

So a house you've let out while living in Lisbon fails the test, and those years don't qualify for relief, except for the final nine months. With rebasing, years before April 2015 drop out of the calculation anyway.

Other things to check

• The other country. Your new home country may also tax the gain. Most double taxation agreements let the UK tax UK property first, with the other country giving credit. Check both sides before you exchange.
• Temporary non-residence. Come back to the UK within five years and some gains made while away can be taxed in your year of return, though UK property gains are generally already taxed when you sell.
• Selling to come home. If you're selling to buy back in Blighty, our guide on keeping your UK home or selling it before you go weighs the options.

Diarise the 60 days the moment you have a completion date, ideally before the celebratory fish and chips.

Sources

1. GOV.UK: Work out your tax if you're a non-resident selling UK property or land
2. GOV.UK: Report and pay your Capital Gains Tax, if you sold a property in the UK
3. GOV.UK: HS307 Non-resident Capital Gains on direct and indirect disposals of interest in UK land and property (2026)
4. GOV.UK: HS283 Private Residence Relief (2026)
5. HMRC Capital Gains Manual CG64582: Private residence relief, residences in another territory, day count
6. HM Treasury: Budget 2026 overview of tax legislation and rates, Annex A
7. HMRC: Capital Gains Tax rates and annual tax-free allowances

Keep reading

• Renting out your UK home: the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme
• The Statutory Residence Test explained
• Coming back: tax in your first year home
• Double taxation agreements and reliefs