Crypto Country GuideCrypto rules and tax, country by country

United Kingdom: personal tax

Last reviewed: October 2026

On this page
  1. How crypto is taxed
    1. What counts as a disposal
    2. Pooling and matching rules
  2. A worked example
  3. Losses
  4. Mining and trading
  5. Staking, DeFi, airdrops and NFTs
  6. Moving to or from the UK
  7. Upcoming changes
  8. Sources
  • For most individuals, crypto is an investment taxed under Capital Gains Tax. In 2026/27 the rates are 18% and 24%, after an annual exempt amount of £3,000.
  • Selling, swapping, spending or giving away crypto is a disposal. Tokens are pooled per token type, with same-day and 30-day matching rules.
  • Staking and mining rewards, and some airdrops, are taxed as income when you receive them.
  • From April 2027 the government plans to defer tax on crypto loans and liquidity pools and to exempt eligible stablecoins from Capital Gains Tax. This is draft legislation, not yet law (October 2026).

This page covers tax for private individuals who hold crypto in the United Kingdom. When and how to report it is on filing and deadlines, and companies are on business tax. It is general information, not tax advice.

How crypto is taxed

HMRC’s Cryptoassets Manual says that owning and using cryptoassets is not illegal and that HMRC does not consider them to be currency or money. The tax treatment of a token depends on its nature and use, not on how it is defined. HMRC expects that buying and selling tokens by an individual will normally be investment activity, so the relevant tax is Capital Gains Tax. Income Tax applies to some receipts, such as staking and mining rewards.

Capital Gains Tax, 2026/27 (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027)Rate or amount
Gains that fall within the basic rate band (£37,700 of taxable income)18%
Gains above the basic rate band, and all gains of higher and additional rate taxpayers24%
Annual exempt amount, individuals£3,000
Annual exempt amount, most trusts£1,500
Trustees and personal representatives24%

To find your rate, you add your taxable gains to your taxable income. Whatever falls inside the basic rate band is taxed at 18%, the rest at 24%. Capital Gains Tax is the same across the UK, including Scotland, although Scotland has its own Income Tax bands.

What counts as a disposal

HMRC lists four ways to trigger Capital Gains Tax: selling tokens, exchanging them for a different type of cryptoasset, using them to pay for goods or services, and giving them to another person. Gifts to your spouse or civil partner, or to a charity, do not trigger Capital Gains Tax. Values are always worked out in pounds sterling.

Pooling and matching rules

  • Pooling. Tokens of the same type go into one pool (a “section 104 pool”), with one average cost. NFTs are separately identifiable and are not pooled.
  • Same-day rule. Tokens you acquire on the same day as you dispose of the same type are matched with that disposal first.
  • 30-day rule. Tokens you buy within 30 days after a disposal are matched to that earlier disposal, earliest first. This stops you from selling and buying back just to realize a loss.

A worked example

Our own example for 2026/27, in England: you sell bitcoin for a total gain of £10,000. You have no other gains or losses. We compare two people: one with taxable income (after the £12,570 personal allowance) of £27,430, and one with taxable income above the basic rate band.

StepBasic rate taxpayerHigher rate taxpayer
Gain£10,000£10,000
Minus annual exempt amount− £3,000 = £7,000− £3,000 = £7,000
Unused basic rate band£37,700 − £27,430 = £10,270£0
Taxed at 18%£7,000 × 18% = £1,260–
Taxed at 24%–£7,000 × 24% = £1,680
Capital Gains Tax£1,260£1,680

This is an illustration, not a tax calculation for your situation. Pooled costs, other gains, losses and Scottish Income Tax bands change the result.

Losses

You can use capital losses to reduce your gains, but HMRC says you need to report the loss first. You can claim a loss up to 4 years after the end of the tax year in which you disposed of the asset, and you must report losses even if you have never made a gain. Unused losses can be carried forward to later years. Losses on disposals to connected people, such as family members, can only be set against gains on disposals to the same person. If you lose your private keys for good, you may be able to make a negligible value claim; see regulation.

Mining and trading

  • Trading. HMRC says that “only in exceptional circumstances” would it expect individuals to buy and sell tokens with such frequency, organization and sophistication that it amounts to a financial trade. If it is a trade, Income Tax applies to the profits instead of Capital Gains Tax.
  • Mining. Whether mining is a trade depends on the degree of activity, organization, risk and commerciality. If it is not a trade, the pound sterling value of the tokens when you receive them is taxable as miscellaneous income, less appropriate expenses. If it is a trade, it is trading income. A later disposal of the tokens may be subject to Capital Gains Tax.
  • Pay in crypto. HMRC says crypto received as employment income counts as “money’s worth” and is subject to Income Tax and National Insurance contributions on its value. A later disposal may give a chargeable gain.

Staking, DeFi, airdrops and NFTs

  • Staking (when not a trade): the pound sterling value of the tokens when you receive them is taxable as miscellaneous income. If you keep the tokens, a later disposal is subject to Capital Gains Tax.
  • Airdrops: there is no Income Tax if you receive tokens without doing anything in return, and not as part of a trade or business. Airdrops given “in return for, or in expectation of, a service” are taxed as miscellaneous income or trade receipts. A later disposal may give a chargeable gain.
  • DeFi lending and liquidity pools: under the current rules, making a loan or a stake on a DeFi platform is a disposal for Capital Gains Tax if beneficial ownership of the tokens passes to the borrower or platform. The return may be income or capital, depending on the facts. From 6 April 2027 new rules are planned; see upcoming changes.
  • NFTs: the Cryptoassets Manual has no separate page on NFTs. HMRC’s general rule is that tax depends on the nature and use of a token, and NFTs are not pooled. HMRC does name NFTs in its disclosure service and in the provider reporting rules.

Moving to or from the UK

Whether you are UK resident for tax is decided by the Statutory Residence Test. For example, you are automatically UK resident if you spend 183 days or more in the UK in a tax year. You are automatically non-resident if you spend fewer than 16 days in the UK (or 46 days if you were not UK resident in the 3 previous tax years), or if you work full-time abroad with fewer than 91 days in the UK. Split-year treatment can apply in the year you arrive or leave.

  • Where your tokens are. HMRC treats exchange tokens as located where their beneficial owner is resident. While you are UK resident, your crypto gains are taxable in the UK, wherever the exchange or wallet is.
  • Leaving. We found no UK exit tax for individuals on official pages. HMRC’s helpsheet HS278 says that someone who has left the UK is not chargeable on gains made after leaving “unless their non-residence was temporary”.
  • Temporary non-residence. If you were UK resident in at least 4 of the 7 tax years before you left and you return within 5 years, certain gains made while abroad, such as on crypto you owned before you left, are taxed in the year you come back.
  • Arriving. Since 6 April 2025 the 4-year foreign income and gains (FIG) regime has replaced the remittance basis. If you become UK resident after at least 10 years of non-residence, you can claim it for each of your first 4 tax years; the Self Assessment crypto section has a box for it.

Inheritance Tax applies to crypto like any other asset in an estate, at 40% above the £325,000 threshold. How heirs actually get access to inherited crypto, from exchange accounts to hardware wallets, is covered in this guide to crypto inheritance in the United Kingdom.

Upcoming changes

On 13 July 2026 the government published draft clauses for Finance Bill 2026-27. The technical consultation closed on 7 September 2026. At the time of writing (October 2026) the Bill has not been introduced in Parliament, so these measures are not yet law and can still change.

  • Crypto loans and liquidity pools (from 6 April 2027). For individuals and trustees, lending crypto and depositing it in a liquidity pool is to be treated as “no gain, no loss”, which defers Capital Gains Tax until you actually exit. Borrowed tokens are treated as acquired at market value. If you get back more or fewer tokens from a pool than you put in, a gain or loss arises on the difference.
  • Stablecoins (from 6 April 2027). Disposals of eligible stablecoins by individuals and trustees are to be exempt from Capital Gains Tax, so gains are not taxed and losses are not relieved. Interest-like returns on them are to be taxed as savings income. Stablecoins in other currencies, such as US dollars, are in scope; unbacked algorithmic stablecoins are not.

Sources

This page is general information, not tax advice. Rules and rates change, so check the official sources above before you act.