HMRC is intensifying its clampdown on capital gains tax (CGT), with property sellers firmly in scope. A new analysis from the international law firm BCLP shows that HMRC recovered £256m in underpaid CGT in the last tax year, a 41% rise from £182m in 2023/24. It also conducted 10,063 CGT compliance checks in 2024/25, up from 7,769 the year before, the highest level in at least five years.
Much of the recovered tax relates to returns filed in earlier years. Recent activity has zeroed in on property owners who failed to report gains correctly, reflecting HMRC’s renewed focus on CGT after a post-pandemic lull. Despite a surge in property transactions following the pandemic, CGT receipts from compliance had hovered at around £180m a year, showing slight improvement. That sales pick-up was partly driven by lower stamp duty land tax thresholds, which were only withdrawn in April.
Extra funding has boosted HMRC’s headcount of compliance officers, and the results are now feeding through. The push forms part of HMRC’s wider strategy to shrink the £47bn tax gap and lift revenues.
Data matching is central to this approach. HMRC increasingly mines third-party data to spot discrepancies and trigger checks from banks, investment platforms, share registrars and overseas tax authorities via automatic information exchange.
The latest outturn signals a decisive return to rigorous enforcement after staff were redeployed during the pandemic and investigations dipped. For property sellers, the message is clear: disclosures must be complete, accurate, on time and compliant.
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