Crypto Tax in the United Kingdom: Capital Gains, Income, and Reporting

In the United Kingdom you pay Capital Gains Tax when you dispose of cryptoassets by selling them, exchanging them for a different cryptoasset, spending them, or giving them away, and you pay Income Tax on tokens you receive from activities such as staking, with gains above the annual tax-free allowance reported through Self Assessment.

This page explains how HM Revenue and Customs applies existing tax law to cryptoassets. The regulatory picture for UK residents sits at United Kingdom.

What counts as a disposal

HMRC lists four ways you dispose of cryptoassets: "selling them," "exchanging them for a different type of cryptoasset," "using them to pay for goods or services," and "giving them to another person," with gifts to a spouse, civil partner, or charity excluded (source: GOV.UK guidance on paying tax when you sell cryptoassets, September 2026).

Moving Bitcoin between two wallets you control is not a disposal, but it still needs recording so a later disposal can be matched to the right acquisition.

The allowance and the rates

Two figures set what you actually pay.

For the 2026 to 2027 tax year the Capital Gains Tax annual exempt amount is 3,000 pounds (source: GOV.UK Capital Gains Tax rates, September 2026). Gains up to that amount in a tax year are not taxed.

Above it, and for assets other than residential property, rates from 6 April 2026 are 18 percent on gains falling within the basic Income Tax band and 24 percent on gains above it, with higher and additional rate taxpayers at 24 percent (source: GOV.UK, September 2026). Because the band your gain falls into depends on your income for the year, the same gain can be taxed at two rates across the boundary.

The UK tax year runs 6 April to 5 April, so a disposal on 4 April and one on 7 April fall in different years with different allowances.

Allowable costs

HMRC allows you to deduct certain costs when working out a gain: "transaction fees," "advertising for a buyer or seller," "drawing up a contract for the transaction," "making a valuation so you can work out your gain," and "a proportion of the pooled costs of your tokens" (source: GOV.UK, September 2026).

Trading fees paid on the buy and the sell are the ones most people forget, and they reduce the gain, so recording them is worth the effort. Fee levels differ by venue and are set out per platform at Exchanges, with the general structure covered in our guide to exchange fees.

Pooling: the part that is genuinely different

The United Kingdom does not let you pick which coins you sold. HMRC's Cryptoassets Manual states that "where the nature of the tokens means they are dealt in without identifying the particular tokens being disposed of or acquired then the tokens should be pooled" under section 104 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 (source: HMRC Cryptoassets Manual CRYPTO22200, September 2026).

Each token type gets its own pool with a pooled allowable cost that adjusts with every purchase and sale. Your cost basis for a disposal is a proportional slice of that pool, not the price of any particular purchase.

Two matching rules run before the pool. Under the same day rule, all tokens of one type acquired on a day are treated as acquired in a single transaction, and all those disposed of that day as a single disposal, matched against each other first. Under the 30 day rule, tokens bought within 30 days after a disposal are matched to that earlier disposal "on the basis of earliest disposal first" rather than going into the pool. Anything left over goes to or comes from the section 104 pool.

The 30 day rule exists to stop people selling to crystallize a loss and buying straight back. HMRC also notes that non-fungible tokens "are separately identifiable and so are not pooled and no matching rules are applied," so an nft is tracked individually.

When it is income instead

Some receipts are Income Tax, not Capital Gains Tax. HMRC's manual says that where staking does not amount to a trade, "the pound sterling value (at the time of receipt) of any tokens awarded will be taxable as income (miscellaneous income)," with appropriate expenses deductible (source: HMRC Cryptoassets Manual CRYPTO21200, September 2026).

Whether an activity is a trade turns on its "degree of activity organisation risk commerciality," in the manual's wording. Trading treatment changes both the rate and the return you file, and the line is a matter of facts rather than a fixed threshold.

Two tax charges can arise from the same tokens. HMRC notes that "if the individual keeps the awarded assets, they may have to pay Capital Gains Tax when they later dispose of them." The value taxed as income on receipt becomes the acquisition cost entering the pool, so the same money is not taxed twice, but both events have to be recorded. Our guide to staking covers the mechanics of the rewards themselves.

Reporting

You report through a Self Assessment tax return after the end of the tax year, or through the Capital Gains Tax real time service. HMRC states that a cryptoasset section is "available on returns for the tax year 2024 to 2025 onwards" (source: GOV.UK, September 2026), which means the disclosure is now explicit rather than folded into general capital gains figures.

Keep, for every acquisition and disposal, the date, the token, the quantity, the sterling value at the time, the fees, and the platform or wallet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I pay tax if I only bought and held?

No. Acquiring cryptoassets and holding them is not a disposal. The charge arises when you dispose of them or receive tokens as income.

Is swapping one token for another taxable in the United Kingdom?

Yes. HMRC lists exchanging tokens for a different type of cryptoasset as a disposal, so the gain on the token you gave up is measured in pounds at that moment even though no pounds moved.

Do I have to report if my gain is under the allowance?

If your total gains for the tax year are within the annual exempt amount, GOV.UK frames the reporting obligation as arising above the tax-free allowance. Other circumstances, such as being registered for Self Assessment already, can still require a return, so check your own position against the current GOV.UK guidance.

How do I value a disposal that never touched pounds?

At the sterling value of what you received at the time of the transaction. Record the rate you used and the source of it, because a reconstructed valuation is much harder to defend later.

Does my exchange report my trades to HMRC?

Exchange reporting obligations are changing across jurisdictions, and what any given platform reports depends on where it is authorized and where you live. Treat your own records as the authoritative source regardless, since a platform only ever sees the activity that happened on it.