Self Assessment - How do I use previous years capital gains loss?

affable1

Hi all,

Has anyone used a capital gains loss from a previous year to offset the gain in a later tax year?

I made a small loss (£1000) in my investment account in the 2023-24 tax year which I registered in my self assessment form for that year. In the 2024-25 tax year I made a small gain (£5000) in the same account. I will therefore need to pay capital gains tax on this as it's over the £3000 limit, so want to use the previous loss to reduce the tax due.

I'm filling in my self assessment form now but the capital gains section is very confusing. This is what I've filled in so far:

Gains in the year, before losses:
For this, I used only the sale transactions with gains and entered the total. For example, if there was a total of 100 sales of shares/funds in the account during the year but only 80 resulted in a gain, I totalled the gain from those 80 transactions here and ignored those with losses.

Losses in the year:
For this I added up only the remaining 20 sale transactions with losses. I then also added on the £1000 loss from the previous year (I believe that is correct based on the wording of the first question on the next page).

So on the next page it then shows my Total Gains at the top, but the figure does not take into account the losses I already mentioned. Not sure why. Anyway, the next question is:

Losses brought forward and used in-year:
Here I just entered the £1000 loss that I brought forward from the previous year.

Can anyone confirm whether I have filled these bits in correctly?

Unfortunately, when I get to the "View my calculation" part of the self assessment form after completing every other section, it only shows me the calculation for work earnings/self employment/interest, and doesn't give me any figures for capital gains. There's just one line at the bottom which says "Plus capital gains", so I'm unable to see my capital gains tax liability. If I could see that I could work out whether I've filled it all in correctly.

DRS1

I may be wrong about this but I think for the losses in the year entry you only include losses made in this tax year not the losses you have carried forward.  The losses carried forward  and used this year go in box 45 (on the next page?).  I am not sure what words you are referring to when you say they suggest you should include the carry forward losses in the earlier box?

affable1

DRS1 said:

I may be wrong about this but I think for the losses in the year entry you only include losses made in this tax year not the losses you have carried forward.  The losses carried forward  and used this year go in box 45 (on the next page?).  I am not sure what words you are referring to when you say they suggest you should include the carry forward losses in the earlier box?

Thanks for your reply. I'm reading it through again and I think you're right. I was reading the wording in box 45 "Losses brought forward and used in-year" to mean that I should have included the £1000 loss from the previous year in box 27 ("Losses in the year") on the previous page. I think I was reading it as "What losses have you brought forward and included in box 27", because box 45 says "used in-year" I was thinking it should be added into the "Losses in the year" box. Sorry, it's difficult to explain!

So, would this then be correct for these three boxes?

Box 26 Gains in the year, before losses
Put the total of any gains you made in box 26. This figure will be the gain minus any relief, claims or elections.

Am I correct here to only include the 80 transactions (share/fund sales) that resulted in gains, and use the total gain amount? i.e. ignore the 20 transactions that had losses?


Box 27 Losses in the year
Put the total of any losses made on the disposals in box 27. This figure will be after taking into account the effect of any relief, claims or elections.

Am I correct here to only include the 20 transactions that resulted in losses, and use that total loss amount?


Box 45 Losses brought forward and used in-year

You can only use losses brought forward to reduce gains to the ‘annual exempt amount’ for the year.

For this year the annual exempt amount is:

• £3,000 for individuals

• £1,500 for most trustees

Only use this box for losses that can be utilised in this year.

Am I correct here to enter the £1000 loss from the previous year that I want to bring forward?

phlebas192

That's what I did with my return. The only other thing I did was to put "OTH" in box 28 "If you’re making any claim or election, put the relevant code in the box" since I was claiming a carried forward loss as you are doing. I don't actually know if box 28 should be filled in (or with that code!) but I did it last year as well and in both occasions the calculation showed no capital gains to pay - there would have been without the carried forward losses. 

affable1

phlebas192 said:

That's what I did with my return. The only other thing I did was to put "OTH" in box 28 "If you’re making any claim or election, put the relevant code in the box" since I was claiming a carried forward loss as you are doing. I don't actually know if box 28 should be filled in (or with that code!) but I did it last year as well and in both occasions the calculation showed no capital gains to pay - there would have been without the carried forward losses. 

Thank you! I've now adjusted my return and I it does now show the capital gains calculation when I go to the "View my calculation" section at the end. I think it wasn't showing up before because I'd entered the loss carried forward twice (in boxes 27 and 45), and this resulted in me having no capital gains tax to pay. Removing it from box 27 now gives me a small capital gains tax to pay and the amount is exactly what I was expecting.

I wasn't sure if the "claims or elections" was relevant so I left it empty but I'll look into that because maybe I need to do the same as you and put OTH in there.

DRS1

Yes I put OTH in the box as well.

affable1

DRS1 said:

Yes I put OTH in the box as well.

Thank you! I have read it over again and have now done the same. That does seem to be correct.