Capital gains tax receipts have surged to a record £22.2bn for the 2025–26 tax year, underlining a sharp rise in tax collected from asset sales.

The latest HMRC figures show receipts have comfortably surpassed the previous high of £16.9bn in 2022-23, as well as the £13.7bn recorded over the same period last year. They have also outstripped the Office for Budget Responsibility’s £20.3bn forecast set at the Autumn Budget 2025.

Momentum has continued into the final stretch of the tax year, with March alone bringing in £496m – up from £412m a year earlier – highlighting sustained pressure driving CGT revenues higher.

Jason Hollands, managing director at wealth management firm Evelyn Partners, commented: “While this monthly receipts data gives a quick snapshot that will be refined, it suggests that about 62% more was paid to the Treasury in CGT in the 2025/26 financial year than in the previous one. Much of that significant jump in the tax take arrived in the first three months of this year, which include the payment of self-assessment bills for the 2024/25 tax year.

“That suggests the surge was driven by investors disposing of assets after April 2024 but ahead of an expected rise in CGT rates that duly arrived at the October 2024 Budget. Before that Budget, many asset-owners thought CGT rates were going up more than they did, with some Labour MPs arguing for an equalisation with income tax rates, so it seems likely much of this spike in CGT revenues is due to pre-emptive disposals in those middle months of 2024.

“Will we be back in the same place this summer and autumn? This week the Resolution Foundation – a think tank influential with the Government – urged the Chancellor not to “let a good crisis to waste” and raise taxes further as the war in the Middle East threatens more pressure on the public finances. With the Government’s backbenchers resistant to spending cuts and unrest in Downing Street, another summer of speculation about tax rises looks inevitable, and a further hike in CGT cannot be ruled out.

“With taxes on capital gains, investors tend either to bring forward decisions ahead of anticipated changes or to defer crystallising gains afterwards, or both. Many might now wait for a future government to bring the CGT burden back down, others might be put off by the higher tax environment from setting up or investing in businesses in the first place. Any distortive effects, and whether CGT revenues remain elevated beyond this recent boost, will only become clear in subsequent years – but history, and evidence from other countries, suggest that higher taxes on investment are rarely helpful in either sense.

“As the annual CGT exemption had been slashed by the previous Government to a meagre £3,000 by April 2024 there was – and remains – little protection against CGT for investors selling assets, which will have turbo-charged the revenues from any pre-Budget disposals in the summer of 2024. Before that the slashed exemption did nothing to boost the CGT take: final revenue data shows that CGT brought in £16.93 billion in 2022/23, £14.50 billion in 2023/24 and just £13.06bn in 2024/25, suggesting that many investors were reluctant to sell up with this diminished level of protection.”

Marc Acheson, global wealth specialist at Utmost, said: “The higher CGT rates introduced at the Autumn Budget 2024 have brought in record receipts for the Treasury as more individuals have been drawn into the CGT net, with gains from property sales, investments or business disposals exceeding lower exemptions thresholds.

“With the government also freezing CGT rate thresholds and allowances for a prolonged period, inflationary increases in asset values will push more individuals and businesses into higher tax bands.

“As a result, we are likely to see a sustained increase in CGT revenues in the coming years.

“While this may be good news for the Treasury, this record tax burden is not good for the UK’s competitiveness, and it has led to increased demand for financial advice as individuals seek clarity on the implications for their long-term financial planning.”