Capital gains tax — left alone at the Budget confirmed

Capital gains tax came through the Budget untouched for most people. The main rates stay at 18% for basic-rate taxpayers and 24% for higher-rate ones, the rates set in October 2024, and the annual exempt amount stays at £3,000 — so the reports of a rate rise or of the allowance being cut came to nothing. The change is for business owners. Business Asset Disposal Relief, which charges a lower rate when you sell a business you have run, drops from £1 million of lifetime gains to £500,000 from April 2027; on a £1 million qualifying gain that moves £500,000 from the BADR rate of 18% onto the main 24%, about £30,000 more tax. Alongside it a new Founders’ Relief charges 10% on up to £10 million of lifetime gains. Anyone selling a business across the April 2027 line now has two sets of rules to measure against, and the lifetime limit is the one that halves.

Capital gains tax is one of the measures raised most often ahead of the Budget on 28 October, and nothing about it has been announced. As things stand, the annual exempt amount is £3,000 and gains above it are taxed at 18% for basic-rate taxpayers and 24% for higher-rate taxpayers — the rates that have applied since October 2024. Press reports have suggested the rate could rise, or that the exempt amount could be cut or removed altogether. Neither is government policy, neither has been put to Parliament, and neither may happen. WealthR’s capital gains calculator and allowance tracker use the figures that apply today, and will be updated against the Budget documents if those figures change.