What counts as a disposal
- Selling tokens.
- Exchanging them for a different type of cryptoasset.
- Using them to pay for goods or services.
- Giving them away, except to your spouse, civil partner or a charity.
- Not a disposal: moving tokens between public addresses you control, because you keep beneficial ownership throughout.
Allowance and rates
- Tax-free allowance (annual exempt amount): £3,000 for 2024 to 2025, 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027.
- Rates from 30 October 2024 onwards: 18% on gains within your basic rate Income Tax band, 24% on gains above it.
- Before 30 October 2024 (part of 2024 to 2025), the rates were 10% and 20%.
- The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April.
Pooling: working out your cost
You group each type of token you own into a pool, and the cost of tokens you sell comes from that pool. Two exceptions apply to purchases close to a sale: tokens bought on the same day you sell tokens of the same type, and tokens bought within 30 days after selling them, are matched with that sale instead of the pool. HMRC helpsheet HS284 explains these share-matching rules in detail.
When you must report
- If your total taxable gains for the year are above your allowance, you must report them and pay the tax.
- If you are registered for Self Assessment, you also need to report gains if the total amount you sold assets for was more than £50,000, from the 2023 to 2024 tax year onwards, even when no tax is due.
- Report in your Self Assessment return (it has a cryptoasset section from 2024 to 2025), or through the "real time" Capital Gains Tax service by 31 December in the tax year after the sale.
- For 2025 to 2026: paper returns by 31 October 2026, online returns by 31 January 2027, and tax paid by 31 January 2027.
Records HMRC expects
Keep your own records of every transaction; HMRC says reports from exchanges are not enough. For each disposal, record the type of token, the date, how many tokens you disposed of and how many you have left, their value in pounds sterling, bank statements, and your pooled costs before and after the disposal.
HMRC sees more from 2027
Under the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework, UK crypto service providers must collect details about their users and their transactions from 1 January 2026 and report them to HMRC every year. The first reports, covering 2026, are due by 31 May 2027.