HMRC Says 17,600 UK Taxpayers Reported £1.38 Billion in Crypto Gains

HM Revenue and Customs has reported that 17,600 UK taxpayers declared £1.38 billion in taxable cryptocurrency gains for the year ended April 5, 2025. According to figures published on August 27, 240 individuals reported more than £1 million each in crypto capital gains.

Crypto gains appear separately for the first time

The disclosure is the first time HMRC has separated cryptocurrency gains as a standalone category after adding a dedicated section to the UK’s self-assessment return. The authority said the average taxable digital-asset gain among those reporting was £78,000, while almost 90% of the taxpayers in the dataset were men.

The 240 largest reporters accounted for £717 million of the total. These figures reflect declared taxable gains, not trading volume or the total amount of crypto held in the UK. Investors still need to determine whether disposals, swaps or other activity create reporting obligations, as outlined in our broader crypto tax guide. That question has sharpened since the annual capital gains tax exempt amount for individuals fell to £3,000 from April 2024, bringing comparatively modest disposals into taxable scope, and HMRC guidance treats swapping one token for another as a disposal in its own right.

International data sharing starts in 2027

HMRC is implementing the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, which requires participating crypto service providers to transmit customer information to tax authorities. The UK authority expects to begin receiving that data in 2027, giving it a new way to compare platform records with disclosures submitted by individual taxpayers. The framework, finalized by the OECD in 2022, has been taken up by dozens of jurisdictions committed to starting automatic exchanges by 2027, so activity by UK filers on overseas platforms can likewise reach HMRC through partner tax authorities. UK rules require covered service providers to begin collecting the required customer data from the start of 2026, ahead of the first reports arriving the following year.

The reporting framework will arrive as more regulated platforms expand access to digital assets in Britain. Recent product growth includes Coinbase’s unified crypto and stock offering for UK users, adding to the volume of activity that may eventually be covered by standardized reporting. The Financial Conduct Authority’s most recent consumer research estimated that around 12% of UK adults hold some crypto, a much wider base of holders than the 17,600 who reported gains in this dataset.

Compliance work is already producing revenue

HMRC said its compliance and education activity generated an additional £168 million in capital gains tax during the 2024-25 fiscal year. The authority did not say how much of that additional collection came specifically from cryptocurrency cases. Declared crypto gains are charged at the UK’s main capital gains tax rates, which were raised to 18% and 24% in the October 2024 budget.

The new breakdown gives regulators and taxpayers a clearer baseline for the scale of declared crypto profits. With service-provider reporting still more than a year away, the current figures continue to rely mainly on information submitted through personal tax returns. Future disclosures may therefore produce a wider dataset once exchanges and custodians begin sending standardized records directly to participating tax authorities.