Most people clearing out a wardrobe or a loft never get near this rule. But if you sell one valuable thing, such as a ring, a painting or a set of antique china, GOV.UK's guidance on income from online platforms says:
"If you sell an item for more than £6,000, you may need to pay Capital Gains Tax."
This guide sets out how that rule works for personal possessions, using GOV.UK and HMRC's helpsheet for the 2025 to 2026 tax year, HS293. It doesn't cover items you made or bought to resell. GOV.UK says that's "probably trading", which has its own rules. Our guide The £1,000 trading allowance explained for online sellers sets out what GOV.UK says about that. Which describes your selling is for you to work out from GOV.UK's guidance.
The short answer
- The £6,000 is per item (or per set), not per year.
- Some things are exempt whatever you sell them for, including your car and anything with a limited lifespan, which GOV.UK says includes watches.
- Over £6,000, Capital Gains Tax is on the gain, not the sale price. Between £6,000 and £15,000 there's a cap on the gain (the "5/3 rule").
- Gains are added up for the tax year (6 April to 5 April), and there's a tax-free allowance of £3,000 for 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027.
What counts as a personal possession
HS293 calls them "chattels": "items of tangible, movable property — something you can both touch and move". GOV.UK's personal possessions guide lists examples you may need to pay tax on: jewellery, paintings, antiques, coins and stamps, and "sets of things, like matching vases or chessmen".
What's exempt
GOV.UK says you don't pay Capital Gains Tax on:
- "your car - unless you've used it for business"
- "anything with a limited lifespan, like clocks - unless used for business"
The limited-lifespan rule surprises people. GOV.UK says it covers possessions "with a lifespan of less than 50 years", which "covers all machinery, and includes things like antique clocks or watches". HS293 calls these "wasting assets". There are exceptions where the item was used in a business and capital allowances were or could have been claimed.
The £6,000 line
HS293 says: "You only need to include in your tax return any gain on the disposal of personal possessions where the disposal proceeds were more than £6,000 and the personal possessions are not exempt from CGT." The proceeds are normally what you were paid. HS293 says you may need to use market value instead, for example if you gave the item away.
Between £6,000 and £15,000: the 5/3 rule
If you sold an item for more than £6,000 but not more than £15,000, HS293 caps the gain. Its steps, in short:
- Work out how much the proceeds exceed £6,000.
- Multiply that by 5÷3. That's the "maximum chargeable gain".
- Work out the actual gain: proceeds, less costs of selling and what you paid.
- Use the lower of the two.
GOV.UK lists costs you can deduct, including "fees, such as for valuing or advertising" and "costs to improve your possession (but not repairs)". Over £15,000, HS293 says to work out the gain in the normal way.
Sets
A set is a number of possessions that are "similar and complementary to each other" and "worth more together than separately". HS293 gives chessmen, books by the same author or on the same subject, and matching ornaments as examples.
The £6,000 limit applies to the whole set if the pieces were owned by you at the same time and sold to the same person, to people acting together, or to people who are connected. GOV.UK puts it simply: "If you sell parts of a set to different people, you will not pay tax on each part sold for less than £6,000."
Losses
You can't claim a loss on your car or, in most cases, on a wasting asset. For other possessions sold for less than £6,000, HS293 says your loss "is restricted by treating the disposal proceeds as £6,000". So there's only a loss to claim if the item cost you more than £6,000 in the first place.
Adding up the year
GOV.UK's Capital Gains Tax guide says to work out the gain on each asset you disposed of in the tax year, add them together and deduct allowable losses. It says: "You'll need to report and pay Capital Gains Tax if your taxable gains are above your allowance." The allowance table gives £3,000 for both 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027.
Two more points from the same guide:
- "You do not get a bill for Capital Gains Tax." You work out whether your gains are above the allowance.
- If you're registered for Self Assessment, you report gains on your return if the total you sold your assets for was more than £50,000, even when the gains are under the allowance.
Where platform reporting fits
The platform reporting rules are separate, and they look at sales, not gains. GOV.UK tells platforms they "do not need to report sellers getting a total of 2,000 euros or less (approximately £1,700) for fewer than 30 sales of goods in a year". One sale over that amount takes you outside the exception for that platform's calendar year, so the platform may report you even if it's the only thing you sold. Being reported isn't the same as owing tax. Our guide Do Vinted and eBay report you to HMRC? goes through the exception, and the free platform reporting check applies it to your figures.
Worked example (made-up figures)
Alex sells three things between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026. Every figure here is invented.
1. A gold necklace, bought in 2015 for £2,000, sold online in February 2026 for £8,400, with £400 of selling fees.
| Step | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Proceeds over £6,000 | £8,400 − £6,000 | £2,400 |
| Maximum chargeable gain | £2,400 × 5÷3 | £4,000 |
| Actual gain | £8,400 − £400 − £2,000 | £6,000 |
| Gain to use (the lower) | £4,000 |
2. A mechanical watch, sold for £9,000. GOV.UK says watches are possessions with a limited lifespan, and HS293 says "certain personal possessions are always treated as wasting assets, for example, plant or machinery". So there's no Capital Gains Tax on it (Alex never used it for business).
3. Four matching vases. Alex sells two to one buyer for £2,500 each, and one each to two other, unconnected buyers for £2,000. GOV.UK says parts of a set sold to different people are each tax-free under £6,000. The first buyer paid £5,000 in total, so that's under £6,000 too. If all four had gone to the same buyer, for £9,000 in all, the £6,000 limit would have applied to the £9,000.
Alex's year. The necklace is the only gain: £4,000. That's above the £3,000 allowance for 2025 to 2026. GOV.UK's rule for gains above the allowance is quoted above, and its report and pay your Capital Gains Tax page sets out the ways to do it. What that means for Alex is for Alex to check against HS293, or with HMRC or an accountant. The necklace was also sold in calendar year 2026 for more than €2,000, so that platform may report Alex for 2026, by 31 January 2027.
FAQ
Is the £6,000 per item or per year? Per item, or per set. The £3,000 allowance is the yearly figure, and it applies to your total gains.
GOV.UK says "£6,000 or more" in one place and "more than £6,000" in another. Which is it? GOV.UK's short guide says "£6,000 or more". HS293 says gains are included where proceeds "were more than £6,000", and its 5/3 rule starts above £6,000. If you sold something for exactly £6,000, check HS293 or ask HMRC.
I sold some old clothes and a phone. Does any of this apply? GOV.UK says that for personal possessions "you probably do not have to pay Income Tax on these", and Capital Gains Tax only comes in for an item (or set) sold for more than £6,000. Phones are on GOV.UK's list of personal possessions.
What if I inherited the item? GOV.UK says to use market value instead of the price paid if "you inherited it (and do not know the Inheritance Tax value)". HS293 and HMRC have the detail.
Your yearly sales totals, by tax year
sellertotals adds up your sales from eBay, Vinted, Etsy, Depop and others, per platform for each calendar year (the years platforms report on) and in total for each tax year. It doesn't work out gains or say whether an item is exempt: that needs what you paid, your costs and HS293. CSV exports are read in your browser for free. Screenshots or PDFs of your sales history use AI, and your first one is free.
This isn't tax advice. Check GOV.UK's guide to Capital Gains Tax on personal possessions, HMRC's helpsheet HS293 or an accountant for your situation, and check the figures before you submit anything.