PM Andy Burnham's Budget Capital Gains Tax rate hike and how to prepare for it

It is rumoured that in the budget on October 28th 2026, Capital Gains Tax may be brought in line with Income Tax. This would mean a Capital Gains Tax rate rise from 18% or 24% to new rates of  20%/40%/45% depending on your income tax band. Typically, any CGT rate hike takes place immediately after the budget.

For higher rate tax payers, the jump from 24% to 40% CGT is quite substantial.

Let us assume that on Tuesday October 27th 2026 I sold some shares (say VWRL) for a profit of £10,000 and I am a higher rate tax payer. The CGT would be £10k x 0.24 = £2400 but if I sold after the budget on the 29th October 2026, the CGT would be £10k x 0.4 = £4000 which is £1600 more than if I had sold before the budget.

Now according to the HMRC 30-day rule, if I buy back the same shares within 30 days, then the subsequent buy is matched against the previous sell. It is possible that the price has gone up between the time I sold and the time I rebought the shares, but it is unlikely that the price would have gone up 16% or more!

So this means that I could sell some shares on 27 October and then, if the budget CGT rates did not go up, I could buy them back again on the 29th (and perhaps lose a bit if the share price went up in those few days) but I would potentially save £1600 in tax if the CGT rate did go up to 40% - I could buy different shares (and pay the 24% tax that year) or buy back the same shares after 30 days (and pay the 24% tax in this tax year).

With an ETF, the change in share price over a few days plus the bid/offer spread should be fairly minimal. On £10k I may lose say £0-£200 by selling and buying back but I would save £1600 in CGT.

So, if the CGT rates do change, I can use the cash to buy different shares - if the CGT rates did not change I can buy back the same shares the following day. So after selling on 27th Oct...

• NO CGT RISE - buy back same shares on Thursday 29th October (maybe lose £200) or buy different shares
• CGT RISE - use cash to buy different shares or buy same shares after 30 days (save £1400 in tax)

This would probably only be worth doing on large, non-volatile holdings.

Easier solution?

To make it easier to calculate and not having to buy back again and worry about the 30-day rule, a simpler approach would be to sell before Wednesday October 28th and buy a slightly different ETF. e.g.

Before Oct 28th - Sell VWRL (dist.) and buy PACW (dist.) instead.

This would mean that I crystalise a gain and pay 24% tax in the 2026/2027 tax year, but there would be no associated cost by having to wait a few days to buy back the shares, etc.

It would however mean that any loss through the sell/buyback would be minimal.

If you are really worried about this CGT rate hike, maybe this is a solution for you?

Note: I am not a tax advisor or qualified to give advice. This is just an idea from a random guy on the internet! This is not advice!