How Do You Report a Property Sale to HMRC in 60 Days?

If you have sold a property that is not your main home, there is a deadline you need to know about, and it comes round faster than most people expect. You have just 60 days from completing the sale to tell HMRC and pay any Capital Gains Tax due.

This catches a lot of people out, because they assume it works like the rest of their tax, sorted out once a year. It does not. This guide explains the 60-day rule, who it applies to, and how to stay on the right side of it.

What the 60-day rule is

When you sell a UK residential property that is not your main home, and there is Capital Gains Tax to pay on the gain, you have to do two things within 60 days of completion:

• Report the sale to HMRC
• Pay the Capital Gains Tax due

This is a separate process from your Self Assessment tax return, and it happens much sooner. You cannot simply wait until January and deal with it then.

Who it applies to

The rule applies if you have sold a UK residential property and there is CGT to pay. In practice, that usually means:

• Landlords selling a buy-to-let
• People selling a second home or holiday home
• Anyone selling an inherited property they did not live in

If the property was your main home throughout and is fully covered by Private Residence Relief, you usually do not need to file a 60-day return, because there is no CGT to pay. The rule is really aimed at additional properties.

The deadline runs from completion, not exchange

This is the part that trips people up. The 60 days start from the completion date, the day the sale actually goes through and the money changes hands, not the earlier date when you exchanged contracts.

And it is 60 calendar days, not working days. Weekends and bank holidays all count. So from the day your sale completes, the clock is ticking.

A quick example

Hassan sells a buy-to-let flat, with completion taking place on 1 June. That means his 60-day deadline is 31 July. By that date, he needs to have worked out his gain, reported the sale to HMRC, and paid the Capital Gains Tax due.

If Hassan waited until his usual Self Assessment deadline the following January, thinking that was when his tax was due, he would be many months late, with penalties and interest stacking up. The 60-day clock is completely separate from the January deadline, and it is the one that matters here.

How you report it

The 60-day return is filed through HMRC's online Capital Gains Tax on UK property service, which is separate from the main Self Assessment system. You, or an accountant acting for you, set up access and report the disposal there.

As part of this, you work out the gain: the sale price, minus what you paid for the property, minus allowable costs like legal fees, estate agent fees, and money spent on capital improvements. You can also apply your annual exempt amount, the £3,000 tax-free allowance, against the gain.

If you already complete a Self Assessment return each year, you usually report the gain there too. The 60-day return does not replace your annual return; it sits alongside it as an earlier, additional step.

What happens if you miss it

Miss the 60-day deadline and HMRC can charge a penalty for the late report, with interest building on any tax paid late. As with most things tax, the sooner you put it right, the less it costs.

If you have recently sold and are only now realising this applies to you, the best thing to do is act quickly rather than wait.

We do this every day

Reporting a property sale within 60 days, correctly calculating the gain, claiming every allowable cost, and filing on time, is exactly what we handle for clients all the time. We take the whole thing off your plate and make sure the deadline is met. Our Solo CGT Filing is £299, a fixed price with no surprises. You fill out one form, and we take it from there.