HMRC rules · 2026/27
2026/27 tax year. General information, not tax advice — your circumstances decide the treatment.
| Annual exempt amount | £3,000 |
| Basic rate taxpayers | 18% |
| Higher & additional rate | 24% |
| Report even if under the allowance | if proceeds exceed £50,000 |
More than most people expect. Selling for pounds is obvious, but swapping one coin for another is a disposal of the first, spending crypto on goods is a disposal, and so is gifting to anyone other than a spouse or civil partner. Moving coins between your own wallets is not.
The allowance fell from £12,300 in 2022/23 to £6,000, then to £3,000 — so gains that were comfortably covered three years ago now generate a bill.
Coins you mine are income at the moment you receive them, valued in pounds on that day, taxed at 20%, 40% or 45% depending on your band. That value then becomes your cost basis. When you later sell, any further gain is a separate capital gains event.
Whether HMRC treats mining as trading income or miscellaneous income depends on scale, organisation and commerciality — a rig in the spare room is usually the latter. It matters, because trading treatment allows expenses like electricity to be deducted more generously.
HMRC applies three rules in strict order. Same-day: disposals match acquisitions on the same day first. Then the 30-day “bed and breakfast” rule, matching against anything bought in the following 30 days. Anything left falls into the Section 104 pool, an average cost across all remaining holdings of that asset.
This is what makes manual crypto accounting painful, and why most people with more than a handful of transactions end up using dedicated software.
The Cryptoasset Reporting Framework took effect on 1 January 2026. UK platforms must collect and report user identity and transaction data to HMRC automatically, with international exchange of the same data between jurisdictions. Previously HMRC had to request information case by case.
You are also now required to give accurate personal details to platforms you use. Getting that wrong can attract a penalty of up to £300, and more from non-UK providers.
Gains go on the SA108 capital gains pages alongside your SA100; crypto income goes in the income section of the return. Online filing deadline is 31 January following the end of the tax year; paper returns are due 31 October.
Losses are worth recording even in years you owe nothing — once reported they carry forward indefinitely against future gains.
2026/27 rates. Everything stays in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere.
Capital gains do not have their own separate rate. They stack on top of your taxable income, and only the room left inside the basic rate band is charged at 18% — everything above it at 24%. A £20,000 gain costs £3,060 on a £30,000 salary and £4,080 on a £70,000 one. Same gain, a third more tax.
This is also why the £100,000 income mark hurts so much. The personal allowance tapers away above it, so mining income landing in that zone can be taxed at an effective 60%.
It will not work out your gain for you. That needs HMRC's matching rules applied in order — same-day first, then the 30-day rule, then Section 104 pooling — across every disposal you made. With more than a handful of transactions that is a job for dedicated software or an accountant, and the number it produces is what you type into the box above.
It also assumes English, Welsh or Northern Irish income tax bands. Scotland sets its own rates on earned income, which changes the income tax figure but not the CGT rates — those are UK-wide.
Sources: HMRC Cryptoassets Manual and current published rates. Figures change at each Budget. This is general information and not a substitute for an accountant.