Looking for a specialist crypto accountant in the UK? TaxDigit's cryptocurrency accountants and crypto tax advisers help investors, traders and businesses stay compliant and tax-efficient — from Bitcoin and Ethereum capital gains to staking, mining, DeFi and NFT income. We reconcile every wallet and exchange, calculate exactly what you owe HMRC, and keep your crypto records ready for inspection.
Make sense of crypto tax
Crypto assets bring real tax obligations that HMRC is increasingly focused on. Every disposal, swap, stake and reward can have a tax consequence — and the record-keeping alone can be overwhelming.
We help individuals and businesses stay compliant and confident, turning messy wallet and exchange data into accurate calculations and clean disclosures.
Whether you are an active trader, a long-term holder or a business accepting digital assets, HMRC expects accurate records and correct reporting. We take that burden off your hands entirely.
- Support for all major exchanges and wallets
- Capital gains and income treatment applied correctly
- Confidential, penalty-avoiding disclosures
From the first purchase to the final disposal, we rebuild the full picture, apply the correct treatment and file it properly — so a growing portfolio never turns into a compliance headache.
Capital gains on crypto
Accurate gain and loss calculations across wallets and exchanges.
Income, staking & mining
Correct treatment of rewards, staking, mining and airdrops.
DeFi & NFTs
Guidance on the tax treatment of DeFi activity, liquidity and NFTs.
Reconciliation & records
We reconcile transaction histories into HMRC-ready records.
HMRC disclosures
Voluntary disclosures and returns prepared correctly and on time.
Business crypto accounting
Accounting for companies that hold, accept or trade crypto assets.
Why crypto needs specialist care
HMRC treats most crypto activity as subject to capital gains or income tax depending on the facts, and expects taxpayers to keep detailed records. Getting the treatment wrong — or ignoring it — can be costly. Our team keeps up with the rules so you do not have to.
- Specialist knowledge of UK crypto taxation
- Support for high-volume wallets and exchanges
- Clear, defensible calculations and records
- Discreet, professional handling of disclosures
Need clarity on your crypto tax position? Contact our team for a confidential review.
How we handle your crypto
We take your exchange and wallet data, reconcile it into accurate records, calculate the tax due and prepare any disclosures — clearly and confidentially.
Data and reconciliation
We import and reconcile transactions across exchanges and wallets into HMRC-ready records.
Tax calculation
We apply the correct capital gains or income tax treatment to disposals, staking, mining and rewards.
Reporting and disclosure
We prepare your return or voluntary disclosure and advise on payment and record-keeping going forward.
Frequently asked questions
Do I pay tax if I did not cash out to pounds?
Often yes. Swapping one crypto for another, or spending it, can be a disposal for capital gains tax even without converting to sterling.
What if I have thousands of transactions?
That is common. We use specialist tools to reconcile high-volume histories accurately and efficiently.
I have not declared previous years — can you help?
Yes. We can prepare a voluntary disclosure to bring your affairs up to date discreetly and correctly.
Our specialist crypto services
Scam, fraud and theft losses
Forensic reconstruction, loss quantification, negligible value claims and HMRC evidence packs for victims of crypto fraud, hacks, rug pulls and platform collapses.
Exchange & wallet transaction analysis
Complete sterling-denominated histories rebuilt from exchange exports, APIs and on-chain data — including from exchanges that no longer exist.
Capital gains & section 104 pooling
The matching rules applied properly: same-day, 30-day and the pool, with a full worked example and correct SA108 reporting.
Staking & validator income
Protocol, custodial, liquid and restaked positions — income on receipt, base cost carried through, and the trade question for node operators.
DeFi, lending & liquidity
The beneficial-ownership analysis that decides whether your deposit was a taxable disposal — and what changes on 6 April 2027.
Mining — hobby or trade
The badges of trade applied to real mining operations, with the expense asymmetry that costs most miners money.
Airdrops, hard forks & NFTs
When free tokens are taxable, how to split a pool after a fork, and why NFTs are never pooled.
HMRC disclosure & CARF
Nudge letters, voluntary disclosure and the exchange data reaching HMRC from 2027 covering calendar year 2026 onwards.
Crypto for limited companies
Corporation tax, treasury holdings, accepting crypto as payment, VAT and paying people in tokens.
International & non-resident
Arriving, leaving, the FIG regime, crypto inheritance tax and multi-jurisdiction positions.
Crypto tax guides, tools and specialist help
Beyond the service pages above, we publish the reference material a crypto tax accountant actually uses. These are free, they cite the underlying law, and they are kept current.
- Free UK crypto CGT calculator — applies the same-day rule, the 30-day rule and section 104 pooling to your own transactions, in your browser.
- HMRC crypto tax investigations and enquiries — nudge letters, s.9A enquiries, Schedule 36 notices, COP8, COP9 and discovery assessments, with the time limits and penalty bands.
- Crypto tax by country: 2026 comparison — how 26 jurisdictions tax cryptoassets, side by side, and why the same wallet gives four different answers.
- Leaving the UK with crypto — the statutory residence test, split-year treatment and the five-year temporary non-residence clock.
- Crypto trading, derivatives and trader status — margin, futures, perpetuals, bots, memecoins, gifts and spending, plus the badges of trade.
- Crypto tax software versus an accountant — Koinly, Recap, CoinTracking, CoinTracker, Blockpit and TokenTax, and the eight reasons the number comes out wrong.
- Crypto inheritance tax and estate planning — the 40% charge, long-term residence after the 2025 reform, and safe key succession.
Why clients choose TaxDigit for crypto
- Chartered certified accountants, not a recovery agency or an unregulated adviser. Particularly relevant if you have been targeted once already.
- We cite the source. Every technical position on these pages carries its HMRC manual or statutory reference, so you can check it — and so can HMRC.
- We say when the law is unclear. DeFi disposals, liquid staking, retroactive airdrops, NFT royalties and the situs of exchange tokens are all genuinely unresolved. Anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing.
- Data first, form second. Most of the value is in the reconstruction, not the filing.
- Worldwide clients, UK expertise. We act internationally and will tell you plainly when a question belongs to another jurisdiction.
Crypto tax questions we are asked most
Do I have to pay tax on crypto in the UK?
Yes, in most cases where you have disposed of cryptoassets or received them as a reward. HMRC taxes cryptoassets according to what you do with them, not what they are: disposals fall within Capital Gains Tax, while staking, mining, lending and some airdrops are taxed as income. Simply holding crypto is not itself a taxable event.
Is swapping one crypto for another taxable?
Yes. Exchanging tokens for a different type of token is expressly a disposal for Capital Gains Tax. This is the single most common reason people who have never withdrawn money to their bank account nevertheless have a significant tax liability.
How much crypto can I sell tax-free?
The capital gains annual exempt amount is £3,000 for 2026/27. Above that, gains are taxed at 18% within the basic rate band and 24% above it. Note separately that if your total disposals in the year exceeded £50,000, you must complete the capital gains pages even if you made no gain at all.
Does HMRC know about my crypto?
Increasingly, yes. Under the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework, providers began collecting customer data on 1 January 2026 and submit their first reports to HMRC between 1 January and 31 May 2027, covering calendar year 2026 — from providers based both in the UK and overseas. HMRC has also run several nudge-letter campaigns since 2021.
What happens if I have not declared crypto for several years?
There is a proper route: HMRC’s Cryptoasset Disclosure Service. How far back it goes depends on your behaviour — four years if you took reasonable care, six if you were careless, twenty if the failure was deliberate. Disclosing before HMRC contacts you attracts a materially larger penalty reduction than disclosing afterwards.
I lost money on crypto. Can I claim it?
Sometimes, and it is worth checking, because unclaimed crypto losses are extremely common. A genuine disposal at a loss produces an allowable capital loss. Tokens that became worthless may support a negligible value claim. But theft, in HMRC’s view, is not a disposal at all — so a hacked wallet does not produce an automatic loss.
Do you work with clients outside the UK?
Yes. We act for individuals and businesses worldwide on their UK tax position, and everything can be handled remotely. Where the decisive question belongs to another country’s tax system, we will say so and work alongside a local adviser rather than pretend the UK analysis answers it.
What do you need from me to get started?
Complete exports from every exchange you have used, every wallet address you have controlled, the bank statements showing fiat in and out, and any tax returns already filed that mentioned cryptoassets. If some of that no longer exists, tell us — reconstruction is a large part of what we do.
Do I still need an accountant if I use Koinly or Recap?
Those tools produce a starting position, and we work with their output routinely. What software cannot do is exercise judgement — whether a DeFi deposit transferred beneficial ownership, whether an airdrop was received for a service, whether your activity amounts to a trade. Those judgements are what change the tax.
How much does a crypto tax accountant cost?
It depends on transaction volume, how many exchanges and wallets are involved, which activities you carried out and how much of the history survives. We scope the work first and agree a fixed fee before starting, so the cost is known in advance rather than accruing hourly. There is no charge for the initial conversation.
Is crypto trading treated as gambling in the UK?
No. HMRC’s published position is that buying and selling cryptoassets is not gambling, so gains are taxable and losses are allowable. Genuine spread betting through a UK-regulated firm sits outside capital gains tax, but its losses are not allowable either.
Am I a crypto trader or an investor for tax purposes?
Almost certainly an investor. HMRC’s published view is that it will be exceptional for an individual buying and selling cryptoassets to be carrying on a trade. High transaction volume alone, including from bots, does not create one. The badges of trade are applied as a whole.
What records do I need to keep for crypto tax?
The type of token, the date of every transaction, the number of units, the sterling value at the time, the running pooled total for each token, and bank statements and wallet addresses. Exchanges do not keep records indefinitely and several have closed, so export and retain your own data at least annually.
Can you help if I have moved abroad or moved to the UK?
Yes. We advise on the UK side of cross-border positions: the statutory residence test, split-year treatment, temporary non-residence, the four-year regime for new arrivers, and inheritance tax after the 2025 residence-based reform. Where a foreign filing is needed we coordinate with a local adviser in that country.
This page is general guidance on UK tax law as at 10 August 2026 and is not advice for any particular case. HMRC’s internal manuals, including the Cryptoassets Manual, are guidance for HMRC staff, are not law, and do not bind HMRC in an individual case. Reviewed by the TaxDigit crypto tax team. Updated August 2026.
Get crypto clarity
Book a free, no-obligation consultation with a chartered certified accountant today.
Book a Consultation