Capital Gains Tax: what you pay it on, rates and allowances
Gifts to your spouse or charity
There are special rules for Capital Gains Tax on gifts or assets you dispose of to:
- your spouse or civil partner
- charity
The normal rules apply for gifts to others.
Your spouse or civil partner
You do not pay Capital Gains Tax on assets you give or sell to your husband, wife or civil partner, unless:
- you separated and did not live together at all in that tax year
- you gave them goods for their business to sell on
The tax year is from 6 April to 5 April the following year.
If they later sell the asset
Your spouse or civil partner may have to pay tax on any gain if they later dispose of the asset.
Their gain will be calculated on the difference in value between when you first owned the asset and when they disposed of it.
If this was before April 1982, your spouse or civil partner should work out their gain using the market value on 31 March 1982 instead.
They should keep a record of what you paid for the asset.
Gifts to charity
You do not have to pay Capital Gains Tax on assets you give away to charity.
You may have to pay if you sell an asset to charity for both:
- more than you paid for it
- less than market value
Work out your gain using the amount the charity actually pays you, rather than the value of the asset.