Capital Gains Tax and Real Time Reporting

In 2016 HMRC introduced a system whereby taxpayers could report a capital gain outside of the self-assessment regime and pay the tax before the normal 31 January deadline.

The system is available to UK residents. It is part of HMRC’s online service and taxpayers wishing to use the scheme will have to enrol.

There are no specific regulations governing when a ‘real-time transaction’ report has to be submitted, although HMRC’s website states that any report has to be made by 31 December following the end of the tax year of assessment in which the gain took place. This is presumably to give HMRC the time to issue payment details for any tax due.

It seems to have been introduced to enable taxpayers, who would not otherwise be in the self-assessment system, to report capital gains without filling in a self-assessment tax return.

If a taxpayer uses the real-time capital gains system but is obliged to file a self-assessment tax return for any other reason then they will have to include the gain in their self-assessment return as well.

The statutory deadline for reporting capital gains and for paying any tax due remains 31 January following the end of the tax year of assessment in which the gain took place.

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