UK Crypto Tax Rate: How Much Will You Pay?
Need to know the HMRC tax rates and brackets ahead of the January 31st tax deadline? We got you. Read our UK Tax Rates Guide, which covers everything you need to know about UK tax rates for the 2023-2024 financial year, 2024-2025 financial year, Capital Gains Tax rates, and more!
We're only covering UK crypto tax rates in this guide... if you want to learn about how crypto is taxed in the UK - read our ultimate UK crypto tax guide instead.
UK Crypto Tax Rates
When it comes to crypto - there are two tax rates you need to know about in the UK, your Income Tax rate and your Capital Gains Tax rate. Both will vary depending on how much you earn.
You can learn everything you need to know about crypto tax in our UK crypto tax guide, but in brief:
You'll pay Capital Gains Tax on any gain when you sell, swap, spend, or gift crypto (excluding gifts to your spouse).
Your Capital Gains Tax rate is 10% or 20% depending on how much you earn.
You get a Capital Gains Tax allowance of £3,000 each year, which is a certain amount of gains you may earn tax free.
You'll pay Income Tax on crypto viewed as additional income, for example, mining and staking rewards.
Now you know the basics - let's look at how much you'll pay.
Capital Gains Tax Rate UK 2024-2025
The amount of Capital Gains Tax you’ll pay on your crypto gains depends on your regular income and the Income Tax Band you fall into.
| Tax Rate | Taxable income |
|---|---|
| 10% | Basic Rate Income Band (up to £50,270) |
| 20% | Higher Rate Income Band (up to £150,000) |
| 20% | Additional Rate Income Band (more than £150,000) |
Please note that capital gains from residential property and carried interest from investment funds are taxed at a higher tax rate.
As part of the Autumn Budget 2024, Capital Gains Tax rates are rising from October 30, 2024. Any disposals you make after this date will be subject to the new higher tax rates.
| Tax Rate | Taxable Income |
|---|---|
| 18% | Basic Rate Income Band (up to £50,270) |
| 24% | Higher Rate Income Band (up to £150,000) |
| 24% | Additional Rate Income Band (more than £150,000) |
Capital Gains Tax Allowance
Every taxpayer in the UK gets an annual allowance, known as the Annual Exempt Amount, and it's no small sum of £3,000 per person, per year.
This means if you have less than £3,000 in gains, you won’t pay any Capital Gains Tax and you don’t need to report this to the HMRC.
Prior to the 2024-2025 financial year, this figure was £6,000 in 2023-2024 and £12,300 in previous financial years. This means for the 2023-2024 financial year that you'll report in January 2025, you have a £6,000 annual exempt amount.
UK Income Tax Bands
Your crypto tax rate will be the same as the highest tax band you fall into as it is considered miscellaneous income. You’ll pay anywhere between 0% to 45% in tax.
| Tax Rate | Taxable Income | Band |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | Up to £12,570 | Personal allowance |
| 20% | £12,571 - £50,270 | Basic rate |
| 40% | £50,271 - £125,140 | Higher rate |
| 45% | £125,141+ | Additional rate |
You don’t pay the same flat rate of Income Tax on all your earnings. For all English and Welsh taxpayers (bar those earning over £125,140) you’ll have £12,570 tax free. Then you’ll pay 20% tax on your next £37,699 of income, 40% on the next £99,729 of income, and 45% in tax on any income over this amount.
Scottish Income Tax Bands
Scottish taxpayers have slightly different Income Tax Bands. You can see these rates below:
| Band | Taxable Income | Tax Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Personal allowance | Up to £12,570 | 0% |
| Starter rate | £12,571 to £14,876 | 19% |
| Basic rate | £14,877 to £26,561 | 20% |
| Intermediate rate | £26,562 to £43,662 | 21% |
| Higher rate | £43,663 to £75,000 | 42% |
| Advanced rate | £75,001 to £125,140 | 45% |
| Top rate | Over £125,140+ | 48% |
UK Income Tax Allowances
The UK has a personal allowance of £12,570 which you’ll pay no tax on. You don’t get a personal allowance on income if you earn more than £125,140.
As well as this, if you earn less than £1,000 in additional income this isn't subject to Income Tax, thanks to the trading and property allowance. If you’ve earned less than £1,000, you don’t need to declare it to HMRC. If it’s more than £1,000, you’ll need to declare this in your Self Assessment Tax Return.
When to file UK crypto taxes
The UK tax deadline is the 31st of January 2025. You need to report any income from crypto or capital gains from crypto in your self assessment tax return by this date.
Ideally, you’ll want to submit your tax return before this point as you also need to pay any taxes due by midnight on the 31st of January 2025.
UK Tax Deadlines 2024 - 2025
There are some important dates you need to be aware of for filing your taxes:
6th April 2023: 2023/2024 tax year starts. Capital Gains Tax allowance is cut to £6,000.
31st January 2024: Deadline to file and pay Self Assessment Tax Returns for the 2022/2023 financial year.
5th April 2024: 2023/2024 financial year ends.
6th April 2024: 2024/2025 financial year starts. Capital Gains Tax allowance is cut to £3,000.
5th October 2024: Deadline for registering for Self Assessment registration.
31st October 2024: Deadline for Self Assessment Tax Returns submitted by post.
30th December 2024: If your tax liability is less than £3,000, if you file your online Self Assessment Tax Return by this date, your taxes will be collected via your tax code.
31st January 2025: Deadline to file and pay Self Assessment Tax Returns for the 2023/2024 financial year.
5th April 2025: 2024/2025 financial year ends.
6th April 2025: 2025/2026 financial year starts.
5th October 2025: Deadline for registering for Self Assessment registration.
31st October 2025: Deadline for Self Assessment Tax Returns submitted by post
30th December 2025: If your tax liability is less than £3,000, if you file your online Self Assessment Tax Return by this date, your taxes will be collected via your tax code.
31st January 2026: Deadline to file and pay Self Assessment Tax Returns for the 2024/2025 financial year.
How to file UK crypto taxes with Koinly
There are a couple of ways to file your crypto taxes in the UK.
If you only have capital gains taxes to pay, you can report any capital gains or losses as they happen using the Government Gateway Service. Of course, this relies on you knowing and keeping track of any capital gains or losses as they happen on each transaction. This is much easier with crypto tax software like Koinly.
If you have crypto taxes that are subject to income tax, you'll need to include these in your Self Assessment Tax Return. You can also include capital gains in this tax return if you'd rather not report gains and losses in real-time.
You can file the Self Assessment Tax Return online or post a form.
If you've not filed an online return before, you'll need to do this at least 20 working days before the tax deadline to give yourself time to register. There are different ways to register depending on whether you're self-employed or employed.
You'll need to keep good records of your crypto transactions including the FMV on the day you purchased, the FMV on the day you sold, and any subsequent capital profits or losses, as well as any crypto 'earnings' perceived as income.
You submit these records to the HMRC, and it will calculate what you owe based on what you report. You need to pay your Self Assessment Tax Return bill by midnight on the 31st of January 2025, or of course, you can always use an accountant.
Koinly can help you do all of this by identifying the different types of tax applicable to your crypto transactions, calculating your crypto taxes, and generating specific forms, like your HMRC Capital Gains Summary crypto tax report.
We have loads more helpful tax tips in our UK crypto tax guide and how to pay less crypto tax in the UK.
