Crypto accountants for UK investors,
so the figure you file is the figure you owe.

Certified Crypto Accountant is a UK firm that works only on crypto tax. We rebuild your exchange, wallet and DeFi history from source, apply HMRC’s share pooling rules, and file the Self Assessment ourselves, on a fixed fee agreed before any work starts.

Most reports we are sent overstate the gain. Usually a transfer between your own wallets has been read as a sale, or an acquisition cost never reached the pool. We find that before you file, so you pay what you owe and nothing above it.

UKHMRC rules, nothing else
40+exchanges, wallets and chains
LicensedRegulated by the AAT for accountancy and anti-money laundering, licence 1010475
Coinbase
Binance
Kraken
KuCoin
OKX
Bybit
Uniswap
MetaMask

Works with

CoinbaseBinanceKrakenKuCoinOKXBybitUniswapMetaMaskLedgerTrezorPhantomBitcoinEthereumSolanaPolygonArbitrumCardanoXRPLitecoinTetherChainlinkCoinbaseBinanceKrakenKuCoinOKXBybitUniswapMetaMaskLedgerTrezorPhantomBitcoinEthereumSolanaPolygonArbitrumCardanoXRPLitecoinTetherChainlink

and the report from whichever crypto tax software you already use.

What HMRC is doing right now, from our guides

HMRC posted 81,172 crypto warning letters in the year to 5 April 2026, up from 65,000 the year before.

Read the numbers

UK crypto platforms have collected your identity and transaction data under CARF since 1 January 2026. The first reports reach HMRC by 31 May 2027.

What CARF sends

An HMRC nudge letter is not a tax bill. Replying early, and correctly, keeps the penalty band low.

How to answer one

A careless error tops out at 30% of the tax, a deliberate one at 70%, and deliberate and concealed at 100%, doubling to 200% where the assets count as offshore.

The penalty bands

Never filed before? You must register for Self Assessment by 5 October 2026 to file for the 2025 to 2026 year.

Every deadline

A transfer between your own wallets is not a sale. It is the most common reason a software report overstates the gain.

Why it happens

HMRC uses share pooling. Identical coins go into a section 104 pool with an averaged cost, with same day and 30 day rules around each sale.

How UK crypto tax works

The annual capital gains exemption is £3,000, so more people cross the line than expect to.

When you owe CGT
Free health check

Why is your crypto tax report probably wrong?

Crypto tax software and general practice accountants get crypto wrong in the same three places, and the errors run in one direction, towards a bigger bill now or a penalty later.

Crypto tax software gets the UK rules wrong

Cost basis goes missing when an exchange closes, a transfer between your own wallets gets booked as a sale, and first in first out gets used where HMRC requires section 104 pooling. Each one pushes the gain up. We reconcile the file by hand before anything is filed.

General accountants are not crypto accountants

How HMRC taxes crypto turns on pooling, the 30 day rule, staking income and DeFi classification. Crypto tax is all we do, and HMRC is who we do it for.

HMRC already holds your exchange data

Nudge letters are generated from records HMRC has already matched against returns, and from 2027 CARF gives it a full annual feed from every UK platform. What to do about a nudge letter.

Crypto tax, handled end to end.

From a software report that looks wrong to a letter that has already arrived, one firm covers it for UK filers. Every engagement is a fixed quote, agreed before we start.

Crypto tax accountants

Crypto tax accountants for UK investors. Self Assessment with the separate cryptoasset boxes HMRC added for 2024 to 2025 returns onwards, and the section 104 pool built from source.

Crypto tax accountants for UK filing

Crypto tax reconciliation

Every exchange, wallet and DeFi protocol matched into one history you can defend, with each figure traced to a source row. The fix for a crypto tax report that looks wrong.

How crypto reconciliation works

Capital gains tax accountant

One capital gains tax accountant for crypto, shares and property, with the matching rules applied, the £3,000 allowance used and both rates worked through before anything is filed.

Capital gains tax accountant

Crypto tax advisors

Nudge letters, enquiries and voluntary disclosure handled from the first reply, while the penalty position is still yours to choose.

Crypto tax advisors for HMRC letters

Also here, the full crypto tax service and every service in one place. Work a number out first with the capital gains tax calculator or the crypto tax calculator.

We work remotely with clients across the whole UK. Crypto tax accountants for London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

How much does a crypto accountant cost?

Among UK firms that do only crypto tax the going rate for one properly reconciled and filed year is £750 to £2,000, checked against published prices in September 2026. A simple year filed from a clean software report can cost £300 or less. Heavy DeFi or NFT years usually run £1,200 to £2,500, and a multi year catch up with a disclosure to HMRC lands between £1,500 and £3,500. US full service firms charge £2,200 to £4,700 a year once converted from dollars.

What moves the price is the number of open years, the number of transactions, whether your platforms still exist and how much of the history has to be rebuilt. How much crypto you hold has nothing to do with it. The pricing calculator prints a range for your own case before you speak to anyone, and the free review turns that range into one fixed quote. What each service includes is set out on the services page.

Price your own case in a minute Free to use. Nobody asks for your email address.
certifiedcryptoaccountant.com/pricing
Running the real pricing engine
Transactions across all years
Every trade, transfer, reward and deposit your software counts
1,500transactions
505002,50010,00050,000+
Tax years that need work
Years that still need computing, filing or correcting
123456+
How your records look
Be honest. This moves the number more than anything else.
My software report looks rightSome warnings and gapsHonestly, a messNo software set up yet
What shows up in your history
Tick everything that applies
DeFi or stakingMargin or futuresNFTsA platform that shut downMining or crypto incomeTwo people filing
What you want from us
Fix the numbers and fileJust fix the numbers
Your estimate
£1,500to£2,050
A fixed written quote follows a free look at your actual files. It usually lands inside this range and sometimes under it.
Rebuilding your history1,500 transactions, some warnings and gaps
£1,005
Year by year computationsGains, losses and income for 1 tax year
£150
Preparing and filing1 self assessment return
£190
Volume sets most of this number. The work per transaction falls as the count rises, so doubling them will not double the fee.
For a case this shape, UK firms that do only crypto tax typically quote £750 to £2,000. Most will not tell you that until you call.
Free health checkBook a free call
Three open years, DeFi and an exchange that shut down.

The 2025 to 2026 tax year is closed. The clock is already running.

A multi year crypto history takes weeks to rebuild. Start now and you choose your filing position.

Self Assessment deadline31 January 2027 
Book a free callEvery crypto tax deadline, explained

Never filed before? You must register for Self Assessment by 5 October 2026 to file for the 2025 to 2026 year, and a paper return has to reach HMRC by 31 October 2026.

From first call to filed return, in four steps.

A free call first

Thirty minutes on your wallets, exchanges and tax years. You leave knowing where you stand and the fixed price.

You send what you have

API keys, exports or wallet addresses. We extract the rest, dead exchanges included.

We rebuild and review

Your full history rebuilt under HMRC rules, every figure traced to a source row and explained in plain English.

You approve, we file

You sign off, we submit, you get the confirmation. Next year is already set up.

The fee is fixed before we start and nothing is billed by the hour.

What crypto investors say after we check the numbers.

Verified reviews on Google and Trustpilot

Crypto tax questions, answered plainly.

The questions UK crypto investors actually ask us, with straight answers and a link to the full guide on each. Tap any question to open it.

Getting started
Do you need an accountant for crypto?
If you have only bought and held, probably not. If you have sold, swapped, spent, staked, used DeFi, hold across several exchanges, are behind on past years, or have had an HMRC letter, an accountant who does only crypto usually saves more than the fee by correcting an overstated gain and keeping you out of penalties. The annual capital gains exemption is £3,000, so more people cross the line than expect to. What our crypto tax accountants actually do sets out the work.
What does a crypto accountant do?
A crypto accountant rebuilds your transaction history across every exchange, wallet and protocol, works out which events are disposals and which are income, applies the matching rules HMRC requires, and files the return. The judgement calls are where the fee is earned. Whether a DeFi position is a disposal, whether you are trading or investing, how to value an airdrop. Software does the arithmetic. The accountant decides what the arithmetic should run on.
How much does a crypto tax accountant cost in the UK?
Firms that do only crypto tax charge £750 to £2,000 for one reconciled and filed year, checked against published prices in September 2026. Simple years filed from a clean software report can be £300 or less, heavy DeFi years £1,200 to £2,500, and multi year catch ups with a disclosure £1,500 to £3,500. We quote one fixed price after a free review, and the pricing calculator shows the range for your own history before you speak to anyone.
Is cryptocurrency taxable in the UK?
Yes. HMRC treats crypto as property. Selling it, swapping one coin for another, spending it, or giving it to anyone other than your spouse is a disposal for Capital Gains Tax. Earning it through staking, mining, airdrops or as payment is usually Income Tax. Buying and holding is untaxed until you dispose. The full UK crypto tax guide walks through every event.
How much tax do I pay on crypto in the UK?
Gains above the £3,000 allowance are taxed at 18% while they sit inside your basic rate band and 24% above it, the rates in force since 30 October 2024 and confirmed for 2026 to 2027. Crypto income from staking, mining or payment is taxed at your normal Income Tax rate of 20%, 40% or 45%. What you actually pay on crypto gains has the worked examples.
What is the crypto tax free allowance in the UK?
Up to three allowances can apply. The capital gains annual exempt amount is £3,000 for both 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027. The Income Tax personal allowance is £12,570. A £1,000 trading and miscellaneous income allowance can cover small amounts of crypto income. They cover different kinds of gain, so which apply depends on what you did.
Do I still pay tax if I only made a small profit?
If your total gains across every asset in the year sit inside the £3,000 exemption there is no Capital Gains Tax to pay, though you may still have to report if you already file a return or your total proceeds passed £50,000. Above £3,000 the whole excess is taxable. Crypto income is checked separately and can be taxable even when gains are small. How to report capital gains on your Self Assessment.
Do I pay tax on crypto if I never cash out to my bank?
Yes, and this is the most common misunderstanding we see. Swapping BTC for ETH, buying an NFT with crypto, or spending it on goods are all disposals for Capital Gains Tax, even though no pound reaches your bank. The disposal triggers the tax and the withdrawal is irrelevant. When capital gains tax is actually due.
HMRC, your data and risk
Can HMRC see your crypto?
Almost certainly. HMRC has taken customer data directly from exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken and Binance since around 2019, and posted 81,172 crypto warning letters in the year to 5 April 2026, up from 65,000 the year before. Since 1 January 2026 UK platforms have been collecting identity and transaction data under the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, with the first reports due by 31 May 2027. What decides your risk is whether your filing matches what HMRC already holds. The 81,000 letters, and what they mean.
What is an HMRC crypto nudge letter and what should I do?
It is a letter saying HMRC holds data suggesting you have crypto that may not be fully declared. It is short of a formal investigation, though ignoring it often turns into one. Do not reply blind. Reconcile your real position first, then respond, and use a voluntary disclosure if past years need correcting. Replying early keeps the penalty band low. An HMRC nudge letter is not a tax bill covers the whole process.
What is CARF and how does it affect me?
The Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework is the OECD standard under which exchanges report their users to tax authorities automatically. Since 1 January 2026 UK crypto platforms have had to collect your identity and transaction data, with the first reports to HMRC due by 31 May 2027 and international exchange of that data following. In practice HMRC will soon hold a near complete picture of your activity.
Does Coinbase report to HMRC?
Yes. Coinbase has handed UK customer data to HMRC under earlier information requests, and under CARF it must report account and transaction data every year from 2027, covering 2026 onwards. Most major exchanges serving UK users are in the same position, so assume your activity is visible. What Coinbase and Binance actually send to HMRC.
Does Binance report to HMRC?
Any exchange serving UK users falls inside the CARF reporting rules, so treat your Binance activity as visible to HMRC. Even where an exchange has left the UK or closed, HMRC often already holds the historic data, and your filing still has to reflect those years.
I haven't declared my crypto for years. What should I do?
Act before HMRC contacts you. An unprompted voluntary disclosure carries a far lower penalty band than one made after a nudge letter or an enquiry, and for a careless error it can bring the penalty down to nil. We handle multi year catch ups regularly. We rebuild each year's history, work out what is actually owed, and run the disclosure with HMRC on your behalf. How to disclose unpaid crypto tax before HMRC finds it.
What happens if I don't report my crypto to HMRC?
Penalties scale with behaviour. A careless error tops out at 30% of the tax, a deliberate one at 70%, and deliberate and concealed at 100%, with the maximum doubling to 200% where the assets count as offshore. Interest runs throughout and serious cases can be prosecuted. Because HMRC increasingly holds the exchange data itself, undeclared gains surface far more often than they once did, and correcting them voluntarily almost always costs less. How much HMRC can charge for unpaid crypto tax.
What are the penalties for filing crypto tax late?
Miss the 31 January deadline and there is an automatic £100 penalty even if no tax is due. After three months, daily £10 penalties apply up to £900, then further penalties at six and twelve months, plus interest on unpaid tax. Filing on time matters even when the figures are still being finalised.
What happens in an HMRC crypto enquiry?
An enquiry is a formal investigation with statutory powers and fixed deadlines, usually opened by letter within twelve months of the return being filed. HMRC can demand records, question your figures and reach back four, six or twenty years depending on behaviour. Have the history reconciled before you answer anything. What happens during an HMRC crypto enquiry.
How crypto tax actually works
Is swapping one crypto for another taxable?
Yes. HMRC treats a crypto to crypto swap as selling the first asset and buying the second, so a gain or loss is worked out at the moment of the swap using the sterling value at that time. Active traders can build up large taxable gains without ever converting back to pounds. How to report crypto to HMRC.
Do I pay tax moving crypto between my own wallets?
No. Transferring the same asset between wallets or exchanges you control is not a disposal, so nothing is taxable. The problem is that tax software often reads these transfers as sells and invents gains that never happened. Cleaning those up is a routine part of our reconciliation work. The rules on moving crypto between wallets.
Is staking taxed in the UK?
Usually twice. Staking rewards are taxed as income at their sterling value on the day you receive them. When you later sell those coins, any change in value from that point is a separate capital gain or loss. The receipt value becomes your cost basis, which is exactly the figure software tends to get wrong. What HMRC actually says about staking rewards.
How are airdrops taxed in the UK?
It depends why you received them. Airdrops given in return for doing something, or as part of a trade, are Income Tax on receipt. Airdrops received for nothing, with no service expected, can fall outside Income Tax but still carry a capital gains position when sold. The distinction changes the bill. When an airdrop is income and when it is capital.
How is crypto mining taxed in the UK?
Mining rewards are taxable as income at their value when received. Whether that counts as a hobby or a trade depends on scale, organisation and commerciality, which also decides the expenses you can claim. Selling the mined coins later is a separate capital gains event. Crypto mining is taxed twice and miners plan for one.
Is DeFi taxed in the UK?
Yes, and it is one of the hardest areas. Lending, liquidity provision, yield farming and wrapping can each trigger income or capital gains depending on how the protocol works and whether beneficial ownership changes hands. HMRC's DeFi guidance turns on that ownership question, and generic software rarely classifies these events correctly. Is your DeFi yield income or capital, and why adding liquidity to Uniswap is a disposal.
How are NFTs taxed in the UK?
Buying an NFT with crypto is a disposal of that crypto. Selling or swapping an NFT is a disposal of the NFT. Creators earning from mints or royalties usually have Income Tax. Each leg needs its own sterling valuation, which makes NFT heavy histories slow to reconcile properly. NFT creators and traders are taxed under different rules.
Do I pay tax on crypto I gift to someone?
Gifts to your spouse or civil partner are exempt and pass at your cost. Gifts to anyone else are treated as a disposal at market value, so you can owe Capital Gains Tax even though you received no money. Gifts to registered charities are generally free of CGT. Gifting crypto outside marriage triggers capital gains tax.
Is crypto subject to inheritance tax?
Yes. Crypto forms part of your estate at its market value on death and can be subject to Inheritance Tax like any other asset. Because access depends on private keys, planning for how your heirs will actually reach the holdings matters as much as the tax itself. What your heirs will owe on crypto they inherit.
Am I trading or investing in HMRC's eyes?
Almost every individual is investing, which means Capital Gains Tax. HMRC only treats crypto activity as a trade in exceptional cases, judged on the badges of trade, frequency, organisation, and whether the whole thing looks like a business. The answer changes the tax rate, the loss rules and the return itself. The badges of trade decide if HMRC calls you a trader.
I moved to or from the UK. How does that affect my crypto tax?
Residence drives everything. Where you are tax resident when you dispose of crypto generally decides who taxes the gain, and the rules on arrival, departure and temporary non residence are strict. Getting the timing and residence position right around a move can change the bill substantially, so plan before you act. Moving abroad does not end your UK crypto tax bill.
Software, records and losses
My Koinly gains figure looks wrong. Can you fix it?
Yes, and it is the single most common job we do. Software misses cost basis from closed exchanges, treats your own transfers as disposals, and misclassifies DeFi events, all of which inflate the gain. We reconcile the underlying data, restore the missing basis, and recalculate under HMRC's pooling rules. The corrected figure is usually lower, sometimes by a lot.
Is crypto tax software enough to file my crypto taxes?
It is a starting point. The software is only as accurate as the data and the classifications you feed it, and it cannot judge the grey areas HMRC cares about. For a small, clean history it may be fine. For anything with DeFi, several exchanges or missing records, the output needs a proper review before you rely on it. Why crypto tax software gets UK returns wrong.
What records do I need to keep for crypto tax?
For every transaction, record the date, the type, the assets and amounts, the value in pounds at the time, the counterparty or wallet, and any fees. HMRC can ask you to evidence your figures, and exchanges routinely delete history or close, so exporting and keeping your own records as you go is essential. What HMRC expects you to keep after every crypto trade.
How are crypto gains actually calculated in the UK?
HMRC uses share pooling. Identical coins go into a section 104 pool with an averaged cost, with same day and 30 day rules for coins bought around the time you sell. That is a long way from the first in first out most people assume, and applying the wrong method changes the gain. The crypto tax calculator applies all three rules to a pasted history so you can see the difference.
Can I offset my crypto losses against my gains?
Yes. Capital losses on crypto reduce your gains in the same year, and unused losses carry forward indefinitely once claimed, which has to happen within four years of the end of the tax year they arose in. Realising losses deliberately before 5 April is legitimate, though the 30 day rule can undo it if you buy back too soon. How to use crypto losses to cut your capital gains bill.
Working with us
What do I need to bring to the first call?
Just a rough idea of which exchanges and wallets you have used and which tax years are involved. You do not need any data prepared or a report ready. The discovery call is for us to understand your situation. We tell you exactly what we need afterwards.
How do you price the work?
One fixed fee, agreed before we start, based on the real complexity of your history rather than an hourly clock. You approve the scope and the price before we begin, and nothing is filed without your sign off. The pricing calculator shows the range for your own history.
Who actually does the work?
Fahad Zar, lead chain analyst and crypto tax expert, works on every engagement, with Sehar Javed on chain analysis. The person you speak to on the first call is the person who rebuilds the history and files the return. More about the firm.

Still have a question? Ask us on a free 30-minute call

What stands behind every figure on this page

Every guide on this site is written by a practising crypto tax accountant who files these returns with HMRC. Every figure and every date is checked against gov.uk before a page goes live. When the guidance changes, the page is re-read and the checked date moves with it.

Certified Crypto Accountant is the trading name of Zar Enterprises Ltd, a UK limited company. The firm is licensed and regulated by the Association of Accounting Technicians, which also supervises it for anti-money laundering. The company is registered with the ICO as a data controller and holds professional indemnity insurance, so a named entity answers for every figure you read here. More about the firm, or get in touch.

Last checked against gov.uk
Company
Zar Enterprises Ltd, company number 17310916
Regulation
Licensed and regulated by the AAT, licence 1010475
Insurance
Professional indemnity insurance with Hiscox

Speak to a crypto tax accountant before HMRC writes first.

Book a free 30-minute call. We will tell you exactly where you stand, what needs doing, and the fixed price, whether you need a full reconciliation, a corrected software report, or help answering a letter that has already arrived.

Book a free call

No commitment. Fixed pricing. UK crypto tax only. Prefer to write first? Send a message.