When Do I Pay Tax on Crypto in the UK? Taxable Events

You pay tax on crypto in the UK when you dispose of it — by selling, swapping, spending or gifting it — and your total gains for the tax year are above the annual exempt amount (£3,000 for 2025/26). You also pay tax when you receive crypto as a reward, such as staking or mining income. Buying and holding is not taxable, and neither is moving coins between your own wallets. The tax itself is due by 31 January after the end of the tax year, so tax on 2025/26 activity is due by 31 January 2027.

This guide lists each type of transaction, says whether it is taxable and which tax applies, then covers the thresholds that decide whether you must report anything at all.

What crypto transactions are taxable in the UK?

Four things count as a disposal for Capital Gains Tax according to HMRC's Cryptoassets Manual (CRYPTO22100): selling tokens for money, exchanging tokens for a different type of token, using tokens to pay for goods or services, and giving tokens away to another person (other than your spouse or civil partner). Receiving tokens as a reward for doing something is separately taxable as income.

Do you pay tax when you sell crypto for pounds?

Yes, if your total gains for the tax year are above the annual exempt amount. Your gain is the sale proceeds minus the allowable cost of the tokens sold, worked out using HMRC's pooling and matching rules. Selling for another currency such as US dollars is treated the same way, with the proceeds converted into pounds at the time of the sale.

Example. You bought 100 tokens for £2 each and later 300 for £1 each, so your pool of 400 tokens cost £500 (£1.25 each). You sell 200 tokens for £600. The allowable cost is £250 and your gain is £350. On its own that is under the £3,000 allowance, but it counts towards your total gains for the year alongside every other disposal.

Do you pay tax when you swap one crypto for another?

Yes. HMRC treats exchanging one type of token for another as a disposal of the token you give up, even though you never received any pounds. Your proceeds are the sterling value of the tokens you receive, and that same value becomes the cost of your new tokens.

This is the rule that surprises most people. A year of active trading between coins can create dozens or hundreds of disposals, each with its own gain or loss, without a single withdrawal to your bank. Swapping into a stablecoin such as USDC or USDT is also a disposal under current rules. A draft measure announced on 13 July 2026 would exempt disposals of "eligible stablecoins" from Capital Gains Tax from 6 April 2027, but it does not change 2025/26 or earlier years.

Example. You hold 1.3 BTC in your pool at a cost of £45,500. You swap 0.3 BTC for 10 ETH worth £27,000. Your proceeds are £27,000, your pooled cost for 0.3 BTC is £10,500, and your gain is £16,500. Your ETH pool starts with 10 ETH costing £27,000.

Do you pay tax when you spend crypto?

Yes. Paying for a laptop, a coffee or a holiday with crypto is a disposal at the sterling value of what you bought. If the tokens had risen in value since you acquired them, you have a gain; if they had fallen, you have a loss you can claim. Crypto debit cards that convert your coins at the point of sale create a disposal on every purchase.

Do you pay tax when you give crypto away?

Yes, unless the gift is to your spouse or civil partner. For any other gift you are treated as having sold the tokens at their market value on the day, so a gift of appreciated crypto to a child or friend can produce a taxable gain even though you received nothing. Gifts between spouses and civil partners who live together are "no gain, no loss": there is no tax at the time, and the recipient takes over your original cost for when they eventually dispose of the tokens.

Gifts to a registered charity are normally free of Capital Gains Tax, provided you do not sell to the charity for more than you paid.

Do you pay tax when you receive crypto as a reward?

Yes, but as Income Tax rather than Capital Gains Tax. Staking rewards, mining income, interest from lending and rewards received for doing something are taxed as miscellaneous income at their sterling value on the day you receive them (or as trading income if the activity is organised enough to be a trade). The tokens then join your pool at that value, so you are not taxed twice.

Example. You receive 1 ETH as a staking reward when ETH is worth £2,000. That is £2,000 of income for the year, and your ETH pool gains 1 ETH costing £2,000. The staking tax guide covers the £1,000 trading allowance, the reporting thresholds and DeFi.

Airdrops are only income if you did something in return or received them as part of a trade. An airdrop received for nothing is not income, but any later disposal is still within Capital Gains Tax.

What is not taxable?

Buying crypto with pounds is not taxable — the amount you pay becomes your allowable cost. Holding crypto while its value rises is not taxable; only disposals crystallise a gain. Moving tokens between your own wallets, exchange accounts or hardware devices is not a disposal because you keep beneficial ownership throughout, as HMRC confirms at CRYPTO22100.

Two small points. Network fees paid in crypto when you transfer are, strictly, a disposal of the fee tokens (CRYPTO22280), so a good calculator records them. And if you use a mixer or similar service and receive back the same type of token you put in, HMRC does not treat that as a disposal either.

Do you pay tax on crypto if your gains are under £3,000?

No Capital Gains Tax is due if your total gains for the tax year, after losses, are within the annual exempt amount — £3,000 for 2024/25, 2025/26 and 2026/27. The allowance covers gains from all chargeable assets together, so crypto gains are added to any gains on shares or other assets.

You may still need to report. If you are registered for Self Assessment and the total amount you sold assets for was more than £50,000 (for 2023/24 onwards), GOV.UK says you must include the disposals on your return even though no tax is due. And if you made a loss you want to use in future, you need to claim it.

When do you have to report crypto to HMRC?

You must report crypto for a tax year if your gains are above the annual exempt amount, if you want to claim a loss, or if you are in Self Assessment and your total proceeds were over £50,000. You must also report income from staking, mining or lending above the thresholds: GOV.UK says to contact HMRC if your miscellaneous income is between £1,000 and £2,500, and to register for Self Assessment if it is over £2,500.

There are two routes for reporting gains. Most people use Self Assessment, where the SA108 capital gains pages have a cryptoasset section from the 2024/25 return onwards. If you are not otherwise in Self Assessment, you can use HMRC's real time Capital Gains Tax service instead. If you need to register for Self Assessment for 2025/26, the deadline is 5 October 2026.

When is crypto tax actually due?

Tax on gains and income for a tax year is due by 31 January following the end of that year. For 2025/26 (6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026) that means 11:59pm on 31 January 2027, which is also the deadline for filing your online return. Paper returns are due earlier, by 31 October 2026. If you use the real time service, you report by 31 December 2026 and pay by 31 January 2027.

If you file late or pay late, HMRC charges penalties and interest, so it is worth getting your figures together well before January. The crypto tax deadlines guide has the full calendar, including payments on account.

What if you should have paid tax in an earlier year?

If you realise you had taxable gains or income in a year you did not report, the fix depends on how old the year is. Anything for the current or previous tax year goes on your Self Assessment return. For older years, HMRC's Cryptoasset Disclosure Service lets you disclose voluntarily, pay the tax and interest, and settle any penalty — which is usually lower when you come forward unprompted. Our disclosure service guide walks through it.

If HMRC has already written to you about your crypto, the letter helper will tell you which years to look at and which route fits.

Sources

• Check if you need to pay tax when you sell cryptoassets — GOV.UK
• Check if you need to pay tax when you receive cryptoassets — GOV.UK
• Capital Gains Tax: work out if you need to pay — GOV.UK
• Capital Gains Tax: gifts to your spouse or charity — GOV.UK
• Capital Gains Tax allowances — GOV.UK
• Tax-free allowances on property and trading income — GOV.UK
• Self Assessment tax returns: deadlines — GOV.UK
• Report and pay your Capital Gains Tax: other capital gains — GOV.UK
• Check how to register for Self Assessment — GOV.UK
• CRYPTO22100 — What is a disposal — HMRC Cryptoassets Manual
• CRYPTO22280 — Fees satisfied in tokens — HMRC Cryptoassets Manual
• CRYPTO21250 — Airdrops (Income Tax) — HMRC Cryptoassets Manual
• CRYPTO22350 — Airdrops (Capital Gains Tax) — HMRC Cryptoassets Manual
• CRYPTO61130 — Making a DeFi loan — HMRC Cryptoassets Manual
• Taxation of stablecoins (draft measure) — GOV.UK