United KingdomGOV.UK
CGT claims face four-year limit for claims made since 1 April 2010
A new HMRC summary sets out CGT claim deadlines: four years for most claims made since 1 April 2010, the earlier 22-month and five-year-ten-month SA windows, and the pre-SA two/six-year limits.
By Taxxa AI OyPublished 24 September 2026
Capital Gains Tax claims and elections are subject to statutory time limitsGOV, and advisers need to apply the right window to the right period. For most claims made on or after 1 April 2010, the period is four years from the end of the year of assessment to which the claim relates for persons other than a company
GOV, and four years from the end of the accounting period to which the claim relates for companies
GOV.
The limits have narrowed in stages. Before Self Assessment there were two standard time limits for making claims or elections: two years or six years after the end of the chargeable period. For individuals and others liable to Capital Gains Tax, the Self Assessment provisions started for the year 1996-97, and those limits were amended by FA96/SCH21 for 1996/97 onwards. For companies liable to Corporation Tax on chargeable gains the limits were not initially changed.
Under Self Assessment the mechanics changed the effective deadlines. The normal return filing date for persons other than a company was 31 January following the year of assessment, with a further 12-month period to the following 31 January during which the return could be amended, unless it was under enquiry. The standard two-year time limit was reduced to some 22 months so that it coincided with the end of the normal amendment period, and the six-year time limit was reduced for persons other than a company to some five years ten months, ending five years after the 31 January following the year of assessment.
The Self Assessment Claims Manual confirms the current general rule at SACM3035: under section 43(1) of the Taxes Management Act 1970 a claim must be made within four years from the end of the year of assessment to which it relatesGOV, so a claim for 2008-09 must be made by 5 April 2013
GOV. Where a person claims for a year of assessment for which they were not given a personal, trustee's or partnership return notice within one year of the end of that year, the same four-year limit applies. Before 1 April 2010 the limit was five years from the 31 January next following the end of the year of assessment
GOV.
The general rule is not the whole picture. The Taxes Acts may prescribe a longer or shorter period for particular claims, and where they do that specific limit overrides the general rule; section 43(2) extends the limit in certain circumstances. Where a specific time limit applies to a claim or election, the relevant part of the manual gives it — for example TCGA92/S161, covered at CG67900P. General guidance on making and amending claims sits in the Self Assessment Claims Manual at SACM3035 for persons other than a company and in the Company Taxation Manual at CTM90610 for companies.
Legal basis: Taxes Management Act 1970 section 43, FA 1996 Schedule 21, FA 2008, and TCGA 1992 section 161.
Check the claim or election against SACM3035 (or CTM90610 for companies) before relying on the four-year rule, and look up the specific manual section where a special time limit applies.