How to Avoid Capital Gains Tax on Cryptocurrency in the UK

When you dispose of the cryptocurrency, any gain in value from the acquisition time will be added to your trading profits, and the transaction may be subject to NICs. HMRC is already working with some of the crypto exchanges and has received information about the transactions which have taken place dating back to 2014. With more data exchanges scheduled to occur, and with experts predicting that even more information will be handed over in the future, there seems little prospect of escaping detection from HMRC. Instead, an individual must declare and pay HMRC the Income Tax due from such cryptoassets within a Self Assessment return. Where cryptoassets are received as employment income, these are classified as money’s worth (as they are “something that is capable of being converted into money or something of direct monetary value”).

This is because if you rely on the trading allowance the income is not reportable in either case for tax purposes. In general, gains on cryptoassets are calculated in the same way as gains on shares. Different types of cryptoasset are treated as separate assets, so you need to calculate the gain on each type of cryptoasset separately. how to not pay tax on cryptocurrency uk NFTs are not treated like shares, because each individual NFT is different. You need to consider the position on each individual NFT separately. If you are disposing of cryptoassets then, other than in exceptional circumstances, HMRC would normally consider that you are making capital disposals rather than earning income from a trade.

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This is called decentralised finance (‘DeFi’) and includes ‘providing liquidity’ where you lend your cryptoassets to a platform which then lends the cryptoassets on. We do not cover this in detail on this page, but HMRC have produced some guidance specifically on DeFi. You can earn cryptoassets by playing a part in maintaining the system on which that particular cryptoasset is based. For example, you might be involved in mining or staking, depending on the structure of the cryptoasset.

how to avoid paying tax on cryptocurrency uk

None of us want to pay more tax than we have to, and if there’s a way to avoid it most of us would jump at the chance. As a reminder, you may also need to pay Capital Gains Tax if you make profit on your crypto. This is still seen as income in the eyes of HMRC, even though your employer is using a form of non-cash payment.

Do you have to pay taxes on crypto?

Stewarts is not authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Again, this can be a complex area and our specialist tax advisors are able to advise on whether your activity would constitute trading. If Victoria then sold all 100 of her remaining token A then she can deduct all £84,000 of allowable costs when working out her gain. Victoria is treated as having a single pool of 150 of token A and total allowable costs of £126,000. However, if HMRC suspects criminal VAT fraud or high amounts of tax evaded then it may commence criminal investigations. HMRC considers whether this constitutes a taxable trade based on how organised the activity is, how much of it you are doing, your risk undertaking and the commerciality of your operation.

  • If you’re paid fully or partially in crypto, you’ll have to pay income tax depending on how much you earn.
  • In recent years there has been a buzz around cryptocurrency which has become impossible to ignore.
  • We maintain a mixed portfolio of clients ranging from start-ups to £50M.
  • Yes, speculative fortunes have been made and lost, but it continues to pique people’s interest.
  • Where this is not considered a trade, the value, calculated in pounds sterling at the time of receipt of any cryptoassets awarded, is taxable as miscellaneous income.
  • To check if you need to pay Capital Gains Tax, you need to work out your gain for each transaction you make.

However, interest is still payable starting February 1st 2022, meaning you should still aim to file your taxes by 31st January 2022. If the return is paid periodically throughout the period of lending/staking. The return to be received has been agreed – as opposed to speculative and unknown. Selling your crypto https://xcritical.com/ for another crypto is a disposal – so it’s subject to Capital Gains Tax. Despite this, you’ll still need to keep record of these transactions for HMRC. You might recall that in 2020, Coinbase handed over data on UK customers who transacted more than £5,000 worth of cryptocurrency between 2017 and 2019.

Do I have to pay tax when I dispose of cryptoassets for a gain or profit?

The storage may be used for marketing, analytics, and personalization of the site, such as storing your preferences. Privacy is important to us, so you have the option of disabling certain types of storage that may not be necessary for the basic functioning of the website. For more detailed information, you can look at HMRC’s Cryptoassets Manual. An exception to the above rule is where a cryptoasset, such as an NFT, is a digital representation of an underlying asset . In this case, the location of that cryptoasset will follow the location of the underlying asset. In general, to determine whether you are trading, you need to consider whether your activities have the badges of trade.

how to avoid paying tax on cryptocurrency uk

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