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Tax & Investing
Capital Gains Tax on selling a collectible — the £6,000 chattels exemption, 5/3 marginal relief, wasting assets, the £3,000 allowance and 18%/24% rates.
By Gary · Updated May 2026
Enter what you paid and sold a collectible for to see the CGT — including the £6,000 chattels exemption and 5/3 marginal relief.
Sell a collectible — a card, coin, painting, antique, comic — for a profit and you may owe Capital Gains Tax. But three rules usually shrink or remove the bill, and most people get them tangled up. This tool applies them in the right order (HMRC helpsheet HS293).
A “chattel” is tangible, movable property. Sell a single chattel for £6,000 or less and the gain is completely exempt — no CGT, however big the profit. (Watch the “sets” rule: items sold as a set to the same or a connected buyer are tested against £6,000 together, to stop people splitting a valuable set into sub-£6,000 lots.)
Between £6,000 and £15,000 of proceeds, the chargeable gain is capped at 5/3 of the amount over £6,000. Sell for £8,000 and the cap is 5/3 × £2,000 = £3,333 — you're taxed on the lower of that and your actual gain. Above £15,000, the full gain is chargeable.
An asset with a predictable life of 50 years or less is a wasting asset and CGT-exempt. HMRC's own example is trading cards: bought to play with → wasting → exempt; bought or held as a collectible/investment → non-wasting → chargeable. Intent at the time you acquired it is what matters.
Whatever gain survives the rules above is reduced by your £3,000 annual exempt amount (don't confuse it with the £6,000 chattels figure), and the rest is taxed at 18% if it falls in your basic-rate band or 24% above it.
The Scottish myth to bust: CGT is not devolved. Scottish taxpayers pay the same 18%/24%, and the rate is set against the UK tax bands — not Scotland's six bands. Scotland only changes the maths if you're trading (regularly buying to resell), where the profit is income taxed at Scottish rates. See the side-hustle tax guide and the Scottish CGT guide.
If you regularly buy collectibles to sell on at a profit, HMRC may treat it as a trade — taxed as income (at Scottish rates if you're a Scottish taxpayer), not CGT, with the £1,000 trading allowance and a Self Assessment obligation above it. This calculator is for one-off disposals of personal collectibles, not a flipping business — for that, use the self-employed tax calculator.
Selling a collection, not a single item? Each chattel is usually tested on its own — run the big-ticket pieces through the calculator above, and read the full guide to tax on selling collectibles.
Back to calculator ↑Answers to common questions about this calculator.
CGT is UK-wide: your 18%/24% rate is set against the UK bands, not Scotland's six (a common myth). See your split on shares, property, or business assets.
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📉Calculate your 2026/27 dividend tax. See the £500 allowance, which rate applies, and how much an ISA would save.
This calculator provides estimates only and does not constitute financial or tax advice. Always verify with Revenue Scotland, HMRC, or mygov.scot, and speak to a qualified financial adviser for advice specific to your circumstances.