CGT is voluntary!

There is a lot of chatter in the financial press about potential increases in capital gains tax in the forthcoming October Budget. However, people often forget that CGT is a voluntary tax - if you don't sell an asset, you don't pay it!

That message seems to be getting through to people.

Only 369,000 people paid CGT in 2023-24, some 40,000 less than the previous year. And CGT receipts fell by £2.5 billion as well as people sought alternative means to raise capital if needed (such as pledging the assets against borrowings).

An attack on CGT in the October Budget is likely to produce precisely the opposite of what the Government wants to raise.