Capital Gains Tax .. imperfect info

TillerGirl72

My deadline is April 3rd and yes, I’m daily considering throwing in the towel .. ps, I’m not doing a self assessment in the formal sense, I’m completing the form online but the trouble is I can’t do it in stages and save entries, I think it all has to be done in one go, which is quite scary. I do have some supporting jpeg files I can upload, just not anything about the costs of buying. Thank you for your help so far. Much appreciated 🙏🏻

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81940831#Comment_81940831

HMRC are not completely unreasonable in their dealings with tax payers who have not maintained meticulous records of their taxable past dealings.

You will see below they have a voluntary disclosure regime which merely requires that after making your best efforts to prepare accruate computations you submit your result ( with appropriate explanations of assumptions used ), seeking a settlement with HMRC of tax due based on your eventual findings -

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-your-guide-to-making-a-disclosure/your-guide-to-making-a-disclosure

As to whether they would accept a Guardian article on average 2004 conveyancing costs, you won't know unless this transpires to be the only basis you end up being able to submit a computation.

Bear in mind in addition to 60 day online computation to calculate and pay your tax, HMRC requires you to submit a self assessment tax return SA100 for 2025/26 reporting the same gain and all your other taxable income, and it is the finer detail you provide in that formal tax return that will form the basis of HMRC's consideration of your voluntary disclosure. Therefore the sooner you submit the SA100 after 5 April 2026, the sooner you will actually agree your eventual liabilty, compared to what you pay by the 60 day deadline.

If your profit is high enough it could push you into the 24% CGT bracket, so that it is the rate you are likely trying to mitigate by way of agreeing with HMRC the original buying costs.

As for residential property gain calculators, there are plethora easily available across the Internet. Aviva's is as basic as it comes in that you play about with the net gain only, but there are others that replicate HMRC's functionality - a sample below -

https://www.aviva.co.uk/investments/investment-account/capital-gains-tax-calculator/#capital-gains-tax-calculator

https://www.charcol.co.uk/mortgage-calculators/capital-gains-tax-calculator/

https://biaccountancy.com/resources/capital-gains-tax-calculator/

mybestattempt

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81940831#Comment_81940831

At the 60 day report of capital gains on residential property stage the tax charge created is notional and the relevant legislation (Schedule 2 Finance Act 2019) also refers to using reasonable estimates to arrive at that notional tax charge.

It can also be amended prior to filing the self assessment (SA) return should more precise details be subsequently established.

The SA return will finalise the actual CGT position and if the actual figures are still not known by then it's a choice between not claiming an amount at all or using a reasonable estimate.

I doubt if HMRC would/could argue the Guardian 2004 figure is not a reasonable estimate.

My advice would be to make the 60 day report now using a reasonable estimate before searching the shed.