What does a crypto tax accountant do for a Cardiff investor
The ledger takes most of the time. We collect every exchange export and every wallet address you still have access to, match each withdrawal to the deposit it became, and only then run HMRC’s share pooling over the whole history, with the same day rule and the 30 day rule applied in order. Done in that order, coins you moved between your own accounts stop being counted as sales. That one correction changes more software reports than any other. Our guide to what you pay on crypto gains in 2026 to 2027 works through each rule with figures.
The return itself is short work once the ledger is right. Gains go on the SA108 capital gains pages, and any staking or airdrop income goes on the income pages at its sterling value on the day it reached you. You see the whole computation and approve it before we file. The crypto tax accountants page sets out the engagement step by step, and the services page lists the disclosure and company work we also take on.
Do I owe tax on crypto I never sold for pounds
Often, yes. HMRC’s guidance on tax when you sell cryptoassets, read on 5 October 2026, lists four events that count as a disposal. Selling tokens for money is one. The other three are exchanging them for a different type of cryptoasset, using them to pay for goods or services, and giving them to another person. A year spent swapping ETH for stablecoins and back again, with nothing ever withdrawn to a bank, can therefore carry a gain above the £3,000 allowance. Our article on how you can owe crypto tax without ever selling for pounds goes through the common cases.
The same page says a gift to your spouse, civil partner or a charity is exempt, and that every other gift is a disposal at market value even though no money changed hands. The rule that surprises people most is the one on gifts to a partner you are not married to, covered in our note on gifting crypto outside marriage. Wrapping a token or bridging it to another chain sits in a grey area that HMRC’s guidance does not settle, and we explain how we treat it in our guide to wrapping and bridging.
What happens if I have not registered for Self Assessment by 5 October
You register anyway, as soon as you can. The gov.uk Self Assessment deadlines page, read on 5 October 2026, says you must tell HMRC by 5 October if you need to complete a return for the previous tax year, so the date for the year that ended on 5 April 2026 is 5 October 2026. Register after that and HMRC sends a letter or email with a different filing date, three months from the date on it. The tax itself is still due by 31 January 2027, and the online return is due the same day for anyone who registered on time. Our guide to registering for Self Assessment walks through the form, and every crypto tax deadline for 2026 to 2027 lists the dates in order.
Before registering, check whether you need to at all. The gov.uk page on working out if you need to pay, read the same day, says capital gains tax is due when your total taxable gains for the year are above the allowance. If you are already in Self Assessment you must also report the disposals once the total you sold for passes £50,000, even with no tax to pay. Our article on whether you need to declare crypto to HMRC sets out who files and who does not.
How much does a crypto tax accountant cost in Cardiff
Where you live does not change the fee. Published prices from UK firms that do crypto tax, checked in September 2026, put one fully reconciled and filed year at £750 to £2,000. Checking and filing a clean software report can come in at £300 or under, and a first return with one exchange and a few hundred trades usually sits at the low end. A year with heavy DeFi or NFT activity tends to cost £1,200 to £2,500, and several missed years with a disclosure to HMRC usually cost £1,500 to £3,500. Our breakdown of what accountants charge for a tax return in 2026 shows where those bands come from.
What moves the price is how many places the history is spread across, and whether each of them can still give you an export. We give one fixed quote after a free review, and the pricing page lets you run your own numbers first.
Is there a Cardiff office
No. The practice is remote and works with UK taxpayers only. Crypto records are files, so there is nothing to hand over in person. You upload your exports through a secure link, we go through them with you on a video call, and the person you speak to first stays on your file until the return is filed.
We also looked for something about crypto that names Cardiff and can be checked, such as an FCA press release or an HMRC announcement, and as of 5 October 2026 there was nothing to cite. This page therefore makes no local claims. The work is remote across the UK, and a Cardiff client gets the same process as a client in Swansea or Newcastle.
Which crypto tax problems do you fix most often
These four come in from every part of the UK, Cardiff included.
Transfers between your own wallets counted as sales
Moving coins from an exchange to a hardware wallet is not a disposal, yet software that cannot see both ends of the move records a sale on one side and a zero-cost purchase on the other, and the gain inflates. Our guide to tax when moving crypto between wallets shows the pattern, and our note on what HMRC expects you to keep explains how the cost is rebuilt when an exchange has closed.
Losses that were never claimed
A loss only reduces future gains once HMRC has been told about it, and you have four years from the end of the tax year of the disposal to claim. A loss made in 2022 to 2023 has to be claimed by 5 April 2027. See how unclaimed capital losses expire.
Several years that were never reported
How far back HMRC can go depends on why the years were missed, which our article on the four, six, twelve and twenty year limits sets out. Coming forward through the voluntary disclosure route before HMRC writes keeps the penalty percentage lower, and the ranges are in our guide to how much HMRC can charge for unpaid crypto tax.
A letter from HMRC about crypto
Since January 2026 UK exchanges have been collecting customer transaction details to report to HMRC under the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework, covered in our explainer on what HMRC receives automatically from 2026. If a letter has already come, the guide to the HMRC crypto nudge letter explains what it is asking for, and the safe order is to rebuild the history before replying.
Do you work with clients outside Cardiff
Yes, anywhere in the UK. Across the Severn there is a crypto tax accountant page for Bristol, and the Midlands is covered on the crypto tax accountant page for Birmingham. The people who do the work, and the standard every figure is checked against, are on the about page.
Crypto tax questions from Cardiff investors
Do I need a crypto tax accountant based in Cardiff?
No. Crypto records are exchange exports and wallet histories, so the whole job is done on screen. Files come in through a secure upload link, we talk them through on a video call, and you approve the return before it is filed. A client in Cardiff gets the same process as a client anywhere else in the UK.
I swapped coins but never withdrew any pounds. Do I owe tax?
Possibly. HMRC treats exchanging one cryptoasset for another as a disposal, along with selling for money, paying for goods or services with tokens, and giving tokens away. Each swap is measured against the pooled cost of the tokens you gave up, and if the total gain for the year passes the £3,000 allowance there is tax to pay even though no money reached your bank.
I missed the 5 October registration date. What should I do?
Register now. HMRC will send you a letter or email with a filing date three months from the date on it, but the tax for the year that ended 5 April 2026 is still due by 31 January 2027. Registering late and paying on time keeps you clear of the late payment penalties, and we handle the registration and the return together.
How much does a crypto tax accountant in Cardiff charge?
Published prices from UK firms that do crypto tax, checked in September 2026, put one reconciled and filed year at £750 to £2,000, and a first return with a single exchange usually sits at the low end. A year with heavy DeFi activity tends to cost £1,200 to £2,500. We give one fixed quote after a free review.
Who does the work on my file?
Fahad Zar, lead chain analyst and crypto tax expert, rebuilds the history and reviews every return. Sehar Javed, chain analyst, works the reconciliation with him. The person you speak to on the first call stays on your file until it is filed.