Capital Gains Tax for Trusts and Estates
Trustee and personal-representative disposals, beneficiary appointments, losses and reliefs.
How to study the ATT Qualification
Use Finance Act 2025 for the 2026 tax papers, complete the three foundational CBEs early, apply professional ethics throughout and concentrate option practice on the one paper you will enter.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Trustees, personal representatives and beneficiaries are distinct taxable persons for gains purposes.
Exam cue: Identify the legal owner and occasion of charge.
Concept 2
Appointments and transfers may be disposals even without market consideration.
Exam cue: Apply market value, losses and exemptions for the correct taxpayer.
Concept 3
Holdover and other reliefs require qualifying property, persons and claims.
Exam cue: Track any held-over gain into the recipient's base cost.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Using individual CGT rules unchanged for trustees.
Guardrail: Do not use an obsolete tax rate, assume a relief, ignore legal form, submit unsupported information or omit the relevant deadline and ethical response.
Ignoring a disposal on appointment to a beneficiary.
Guardrail: Do not use an obsolete tax rate, assume a relief, ignore legal form, submit unsupported information or omit the relevant deadline and ethical response.
Losing the deferred-gain trail.
Guardrail: Do not use an obsolete tax rate, assume a relief, ignore legal form, submit unsupported information or omit the relevant deadline and ethical response.
Memory anchors
Taxpayer
Trustee, estate and beneficiary computations remain separate.
Occasion
Sale, appointment or other transfer may trigger a charge.
Market value
Non-arm's-length transfers may use market value.
Holdover
Reduce the recipient's base cost by the deferred gain.
Administration
Report, pay and claim by the correct statutory deadline.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
Trustees sell shares for £70,000 that cost £46,000 and incur £2,000 selling costs. What is the gain before losses and exemption?
A trust has £9,000 net gains and a £1,500 annual exempt amount on the stated facts. What taxable gains remain?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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