Inland Revenue 19
17 March 1998
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CAPITAL GAINS TAX: ANNUAL EXEMPT AMOUNT
The annual exempt amount will be increased in line with
statutory indexation to 6,800 pounds under the Chancellor's
Budget proposals. For the tax year 1998- 99 an individual
will be exempt from capital gains tax on the first 6,800
pounds of gains. Most trusts will be exempt on the first
3,400 pounds of gains.
DETAILS
1. An individual whose total net gains in a tax year do not
exceed the annual exempt amount is not liable to capital
gains tax. Under the Chancellor's proposal, the exempt
amount will rise from 6,500 pounds to 6,800 pounds for the
tax year 1998-99.
2. Husbands and wives are each entitled to their own
separate exemption.
3. An exemption of 6,800 pounds will also be available to
the trustees of a trust for a mentally disabled person or for
a person receiving attendance allowance or the middle or
higher rate of disability living allowance. For trustees of
other settlements the exempt amount will be 3,400 pounds.
4. An exemption of 6,800 pounds will be available to the
personal representatives of the estate of a deceased person
for gains accruing to them in the year of death and the two
following years of assessment.
5. The exemptions are automatically increased each year in
line with the Retail Prices Index unless Parliament
determines otherwise. The Chancellor's proposals will
increase the exemptions in line with this statutory indexation
based on the increase in the Retail Prices Index of 3.6 per
cent in the year to September 1997, rounded up to the next
multiple of 100 pounds.
INLAND REVENUE PRESS OFFICE