Capital gains tax (CGT) liabilities in the UK fell by 18% year-on-year to £12.1bn in 2023/24, despite the number of people paying CGT increasing, the latest figures from HMRC have revealed.

In the 2023/24 tax year, the total CGT liability was £12.1bn, realised on £65.9bn of gains, with gains down by 19% year-on-year.

However, the number of people paying CGT in 2023/24 increased by 1% year-on-year to 378,000.

The increase was primarily driven by the reduction in the annual exempt amount (AEA) from April 2023, which brought in up to 87,000 additional taxpayers into the scope of CGT.

Of the 2023/24 CGT take total, 40% came from individuals and trusts who made gains of £5m or more.

Meanwhile, in 2024/25, 163,000 taxpayers filed a CGT on UK property return, reporting 183,000 disposals and £10.3bn of gains on residential property for a total CGT liability of £2.2bn.

This represented a 28% increase year-on-year for the number of disposals, while gains and liabilities reported through the services rose by 39% to £10.3bn and 33% to £2.2bn respectively.

These are the highest figures on record since the introduction of the CGT on UK property service in April 2020.

“These statistics reveal two telling points,” said Evelyn Partners managing director, Jason Hollands. “One is that although 87,000 additional taxpayers were drawn into CGT liabilities in 2023/24 due to the cut in the annual exempt allowance, overall liabilities fell by 18%.

“Second, there was a big surge in CGT on residential property in 2024/25, with a remarkable 33% increase in liabilities as people with investment or second properties sold up, with a 28% increase in disposals on the previous year.

“While this data tells us nothing directly about trends for investors realising capital gains under the current government – as it pre-dates the General Election – it does indicate that the quite drastic cut to the annual exempt allowance from £12,300 in 2022/23 to £6,000 under the previous Conservative administration did not give Treasury coffers the boost that ministers were obviously hoping for.

“More recent receipts data suggest that the further halving of the exemption in 2024/5 to £3,000 did nothing to improve the CGT take.

“This update suggests that while some investors have been deterred from crystallising gains, there was a surge of property owners in 2024/25 disposing of their buy-to-let or second homes, either for fear of further CGT rises or because of conditions in the BTL market, or both.”

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