Capital Gains Tax: what you pay it on, rates and allowances
Record keeping
You need to collect records to work out your gains and fill in your tax return. You must keep them for at least a year after the Self Assessment deadline.
You’ll need to keep records for longer if you sent your tax return late or HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have started a check into your return.
Businesses must keep records for 5 years after the deadline.
Records you’ll need
Keep receipts, bills and invoices that show the date and the amount:
- you paid for an asset
- of any additional costs like fees for professional advice, Stamp Duty, improvement costs, or to establish the market value
- you received for the asset - including things like payments you get later in instalments, or compensation if the asset was damaged
Also keep any contracts for buying and selling the asset (for example from solicitors or stockbrokers) and copies of any valuations.
If you do not have records
You must try to recreate your records if you cannot replace them after they’ve been lost, stolen or destroyed.
If you fill in your tax return using recreated records, you’ll need to show where figures are:
- estimated - that you want HMRC to accept as final
- provisional - that you’ll update later with the actual figures