Glossary · UK
What is Gift Hold-Over Relief?
A capital gains tax relief that lets you defer the gain on a qualifying gift by passing it to the recipient, who inherits a reduced base cost.
Full Definition
Gift Hold-Over Relief allows you to defer the capital gains tax that would otherwise arise when you give away certain assets, or sell them for less than full value. Instead of you paying CGT on the deemed market-value disposal, the gain is held over and reduces the recipient's base cost, so they effectively take on the postponed gain and pay tax when they later dispose of the asset. The relief applies to gifts of qualifying business assets, such as assets used in your trade, unlisted trading company shares and certain personal company shares, and to gifts that are immediately chargeable to inheritance tax, for example transfers into most trusts. Both the giver and recipient normally must claim jointly, although for trusts the trustees may not need to join. Without this relief, gifting an asset can trigger a CGT bill even though no cash changes hands, because disposals between connected persons are treated as taking place at market value. The annual exempt amount of 3,000 for 2026/27 may still cover small gains. Hold-over interacts with reliefs such as Business Asset Disposal Relief on later disposals.