How the taxable income report turns your coupon payments, accrued interest and booked trades into the single net figure each UK tax year wants, and the quirks (like the accrued income scheme) it handles for you.
Gilt interest and the tax return
Interest paid on gilts is treated as savings income and is paid gross — no tax is deducted before it reaches you. Checked as at 6 April 2026 for the 2026/27 tax year, the personal savings allowance is £1,000 for a basic-rate taxpayer, £500 for a higher-rate taxpayer and £0 for an additional-rate taxpayer. The starting rate for savings can shelter up to £5,000, subject to the eligibility rules. If your interest takes you over the allowances, you are expected to report it on a self-assessment return. For an index-linked gilt, the RPI uplift is exempt from capital gains tax; its coupon is still savings income. The flip side is that disposing of gilts is exempt from capital gains tax, which is why a low-coupon gilt bought below par can be more efficient for a higher-rate taxpayer than a high-coupon one: more of the return arrives as a tax-free capital gain and less as taxable interest. That is general background, not personal tax advice.
The accrued income scheme
Because coupons are paid in arrears, buyers and sellers share the interest that has built up between payment dates. When you buy a gilt part-way through a coupon period you pay the seller the accrued interest, and the next full coupon is partly a return of what you paid. HMRC's accrued income scheme (AIS) treats that fairly: the accrued interest you pay on a purchase reduces your taxable gilt interest, and accrued interest you receive when you sell is added to it. GiltIQ applies exactly that treatment.
What the report adds up
The taxable income report takes the trades you have booked and, for any UK tax year, adds up the coupon interest received in the year, adds accrued interest received when you sold a gilt, and subtracts accrued interest you paid when you bought one. The result is one net figure per tax year ready for your return, with the per-trade detail underneath so you can check the arithmetic.
Reading the report
The report shows each holding, coupon and disposal that touched the tax year, sums the components into a net taxable figure, and keeps the tax years separate (the UK tax year runs 6 April to 5 April). Coupons on gilts held inside an ISA or SIPP do not produce taxable income, so gilts held in a wrapper should not appear in the sums — keep general-account and wrapped holdings apart if you use both.
Your records are the source of truth
The report is only as good as the trades you have booked, and it is a calculation aid rather than a substitute for HMRC's guidance or independent advice. If a figure looks surprising, check the trade dates, settlement dates and accrued-interest columns, and start from the intro to gilts if the terminology is unfamiliar.