Universal CSV Template for UK Crypto Tax (Any Exchange)

Not every exchange is in our launch set, and some transactions never appear in any export — coins moved between your own wallets, a gift, holdings from an exchange that closed years ago. The Universal CSV covers all of that: one row per transaction, a fixed set of headings, and a Type column that tells the calculator how HMRC treats the row. Import it alongside your other files and it is matched under the same same-day, 30-day and section 104 pool rules. Like every file you add, it is read in your browser and never uploaded.

Download the Universal CSV template — it contains example rows; delete them before adding yours.

How to download and fill in the template

1. Download the template. Save cryptotaxcheck-universal-template.csv and open it in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers or a text editor. The example rows show one of each common transaction; delete them before you start.
2. Keep the heading row exactly as it is. Headings are case-insensitive and can be in any order, but a heading we do not recognise makes the whole file unrecognised, so a typo is caught rather than silently ignored.
3. Add one row per transaction. Fill in the date, the type, what was sent and what was received (asset and positive quantity), any fee, and the GBP value if you know it. Leave GBP Value blank to have us look the price up.
4. Name the source. Put a short label in Source for where the transaction happened — bitstamp, ledger-nano, metamask. Transfers between your own accounts are matched across these labels.
5. Save as CSV (UTF-8) or Excel. Either format imports. Use a dot as the decimal separator and ISO dates (2025-06-15T23:30:00Z); a date with no time zone is treated as UTC.
6. Import it with your exchange files. Add the file to the calculator together with your Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, Crypto.com or Revolut exports. Rows that fail a check are listed on the review screen with the reason, and nothing from a failed row is imported.

Which columns does the template have?

* All four asset and amount columns must be in the heading row; which ones a row fills depends on its type, and an asset and its amount must always be filled together. Thousands separators and a £ sign are tolerated ("1,253.10", £12.41), and amounts are always positive — the Type says which way the asset moved.

Which transaction types can I use?

What does a filled-in file look like?

Date,Type,Sent Asset,Sent Amount,Received Asset,Received Amount,Fee Asset,Fee Amount,GBP Value,Source,Notes
2025-04-06T10:15:00Z,BUY,GBP,500,BTC,0.0100,GBP,2.50,500,my-exchange,Bought BTC with GBP
2025-05-01T09:00:00Z,SWAP,BTC,0.0050,ETH,0.1200,BTC,0.00001,,my-exchange,GBP value left blank — we look it up
2025-05-02T18:30:00Z,TRANSFER_OUT,ETH,0.1200,,,ETH,0.0003,,my-exchange,Sent to my hardware wallet
2025-05-02T19:00:00Z,TRANSFER_IN,,,ETH,0.1197,,,,my-wallet,Received from my exchange
2025-06-01T00:00:00Z,INCOME_STAKING,,,ETH,0.0010,,,2.10,my-wallet,Staking reward worth £2.10
2025-07-15T12:00:00Z,SELL,ETH,0.0500,GBP,95.00,GBP,0.95,95.00,my-exchange,Sold ETH for GBP
2019-04-06T00:00:00Z,OPENING_BALANCE,,,BTC,0.2500,,,900.00,my-wallet,Held before my records start

The transfer pair in the example shows the pattern for moving coins between your own accounts: the TRANSFER_OUT row carries the network fee, the TRANSFER_IN row receives slightly less, and the two different Source values let the calculator pair them.

How are rows checked?

Every row is validated before it reaches the calculator. Rows that fail are listed on the import review screen with the reason (for example "SELL rows need a Sent Asset and Sent Amount") and nothing from that row is imported. Rows that pass are cleaned up (control characters removed, very long text shortened) and become transactions with the pound value you supplied recorded as your figure, a price lookup where you left it blank, transfers flagged for matching across your Source labels, and airdrops, spouse gifts and unknown rows flagged for your review.

Can I use it for DeFi, NFTs or margin trading?

You can record them, but the calculator does not work out the tax on them. DeFi lending and liquidity pools, NFTs and margin or futures positions are outside what it supports; if those make up a meaningful part of your history, a tool built for them, or an adviser, is the right route. For ordinary buys, sells, swaps, transfers and rewards from any platform, the Universal CSV is all you need.