You have 60 days from completion to report the sale to HMRC and pay any tax due — even if the calculation shows nothing to pay.
Living in India does not remove your UK tax obligation, and the annual tax return is no longer where a non-resident disposal gets dealt with.
This page sets out the deadline, how the gain is rebased, and how the same sale is treated on the Indian side of your position.
The short answer
As a non-UK resident selling UK land or property, you must file a UK property return and pay any capital gains tax within 60 days of completion. The filing requirement applies even where no tax is payable.
You may also be taxable in India on the same gain, depending on your residential status there — with relief available under the UK-India Double Taxation Agreement.
Most people selling a UK property assume the tax gets dealt with in the annual tax return, the way it used to. For a non-resident that is wrong, and the error is discovered months later when penalties have already accrued.
Two separate obligations run in parallel. The 60-day UK property return is due regardless of whether you are in Self Assessment, and regardless of whether the disposal produces a gain, a loss or exactly nothing. Conveyancers acting on the sale frequently do not flag it, because the tax position of an overseas seller is outside the scope of the conveyancing itself.
Practical point: you will need a Government Gateway account and, if you have never filed in the UK from abroad, that setup can itself absorb part of your 60 days. Start it before completion, not after.
If you have held the property for a long time, the gain is usually not measured from what you originally paid. Non-residents can generally use a rebased value:
The choice of basis is made when you report, and it can change the liability substantially — which is why the calculation belongs before completion, while you still have options, rather than in week eight of a 60-day window.
Other factors that commonly apply to NRIs and British expats: private residence relief for periods the property was genuinely your home, restrictions where you have been non-resident, deductible costs of improvement and sale, jointly held property splitting the gain between owners, and the temporary non-residence rules if you return to the UK within a short period.
A UK property sale does not stop at HMRC. Whether India taxes the same gain depends on your residential status in India for that financial year:
There are also disclosure obligations in India for foreign assets held by residents, which are separate from the tax charge and carry their own consequences if missed. If you are returning to India, the interaction between the sale date and your residency date is usually the biggest lever available — see how RNOR status works and how long the window lasts.
Official sources
This page is general information about how UK and Indian rules operate. It is not a personal recommendation or a substitute for tax advice on your own circumstances.
Yes. Since April 2015 non-UK residents have been within the scope of UK capital gains tax on disposals of UK residential property, and the rules were extended to all UK land and property from April 2019. Being resident in India does not remove the UK liability.
A non-resident must submit a UK property return to HMRC and pay any capital gains tax due within 60 days of the date of completion. The obligation to file applies even when the calculation produces no tax at all, and even when you already file a Self Assessment return. Missing it triggers penalties.
If you are non-resident, yes — the return is required for the disposal itself, not only where tax is payable. This is the single most common and most expensive mistake NRIs and British expats make.
Non-residents can generally use a rebased value rather than the original purchase price: April 2015 for residential property and April 2019 for non-residential and indirect disposals. Alternative bases can be elected in some cases. Choosing the right basis can change the tax materially, so it should be calculated before completion rather than after.
It depends on your residential status in India in the year of sale. A resident and ordinarily resident individual is taxable in India on worldwide income, including a UK property gain, with relief for UK tax available under the UK-India Double Taxation Agreement. A person who is non-resident or RNOR in India for that year is generally not taxed there on the UK gain. Timing the sale relative to your residency position is often the largest single planning decision.
Remitting the proceeds is a separate question from the tax. It involves banking documentation, exchange control and currency timing, and where the money should sit depends on your plans for it. We help clients coordinate the tax position and the repatriation together.
Speak to us before you complete. The planning options are widest before the sale, and the deadline starts the day it finishes.