Capital Gains Relevance of £46,800 Question

Axel

On the self assessment online pages, does anyone know the relevance of the question:

"Did you dispose of chargeable assets worth more than £46,800"

This seems to imply that assets worth less than £46,800 do not need to be declared however the tax free capital gains allowance is only £11,700. Interesting to note that this number is exactly four times the personal allowance, so I am a bit confused.

00ec25

CGT annual exempt amount ("allowance") for 18/19 is £11,700

you are confused because you have not read the basic guidance here (relevant bit in red): https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax/work-out-need-to-pay

"If your total gains are less than the tax-free allowance

You do not have to pay tax if your total taxable gains are under your Capital Gains Tax allowance.

You still need to report your gains in your tax return if both of the following apply:

• the total amount you sold the assets for was more than 4 times your allowance
• you’re registered for Self Assessment"

So the questions you need to ask yourself are:
a) do you have a net gain after the allowance upon which you must pay tax? Answer = Yes > you must declare on tax return and pay tax

b) if no tax due, do you nonetheless meet both conditions?
Answer = yes > you must declare on tax return for the sake of informing HMRC that you have no tax to pay but have received "a lot" of money this year so they do not wonder if you are evading tax on undeclared income rather than it simply being capital proceeds that you banked