Capital Gains Tax (CGT) receipts have reached their highest ever level at the tax year to date, new HMRC figures have revealed.

Between April and January, CGT receipts stood at £7.67bn, rising to £10.4bn for the period over the last 12 months.

Tax specialist, Canada Life, suggested that investors could have been acting ahead of expected changes to CGT at the next Budget.

In December, research from Canada Life found that the vast majority of advisers are expecting Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to announces changes to CGT at the Budget on 3 March.

“The latest tax receipts data from HMRC shows that CGT receipts are the highest they’ve ever been at £7,668m for the tax year to date,” Canada Life tax and wealth specialist, Neil Jones, commented.

“One theory for this could be that investors are acting ahead of expected tax changes at the Budget in a few weeks.

“Rumours have been spreading for months that CGT rates will increase. Canada Life research found that 83% of advisers expected a change to CGT in the next Budget, with 38% of those expecting CGT rates to increase in line with the recent Office for Tax Simplification (OTS) recommendations.

“Advisers are right to recognise likely changes are on the horizon and therefore begin thinking about their clients and ways to mitigate those changes.”

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