When you administer an estate, Capital Gains Tax sits alongside Inheritance Tax as something you must manage from the moment of death onwards. Death itself wipes the slate clean for CGT, but the assets it leaves behind can later be sold or passed on — and that is where liabilities arise, for the personal representatives and for the beneficiaries who inherit. Knowing exactly when CGT bites, who pays, and how to calculate the gain is core to doing this job well and avoiding nasty surprises for the family.
What this lesson covers:
- CGT on Death and Base Cost — why death is not a disposal, the tax-free uplift, and the probate value that becomes everyone's starting point.
- PR Disposals and Liability — when a sale triggers a gain, how PRs calculate it, and the rate they pay.
- PR Annual Exempt Amount and Losses — the reliefs available to PRs and how their losses can and cannot be used.
- Exempt Assets — assets like cars and low-value chattels that escape CGT entirely.
- Beneficiary Disposals — how a beneficiary is taxed when they sell what they inherited.
- Deeds of Variation — redirecting an inheritance and the rules for reading it back to the date of death.