Paying tax when you sell an asset
If it wasn’t enough paying tax and NI on what you earn, there is also something called “Capital Gains Tax”, which is due depending on what you are selling and how much profit you made from selling that item.
So, what is Capital Gains Tax?
Put simply, it’s a tax on the profit made when selling a certain of asset. The amount of tax you pay depends on what your earnings are in the tax year that asset was sold.
Equally, if you sold that asset for less than what you purchased it for, you will record a loss in your tax return.
When do you pay Capital Gains Tax?
Its usually paid when you sell or dispose of:
- Your personal possessions worth more than £6,000 (apart from your car)
- Property investments
- Potentially, your main home (if you’ve let it out to during your ownership)
- Shares and other forms of investments, not in tax-free wrappers such as ISA’s
- Business and trading assets
You may be able to claim reliefs depending on the kind of asset being sold.
There is no capital gains tax to pay if the total profit made from selling your assets is below the “annual exemption” limit (£12,300 for 2019/20).
See one of the other guides below for more information on buying and selling your assets:
- Calculating Capital Gains Tax
- Giving the asset away as a gift or to charity