HMRC releases first crypto tax data: £1.38B in gains concentrated among 240 UK investors
HMRC published its first crypto-specific Capital Gains Tax data for the 2024-25 tax year: 17,600 UK filers reported £1.38 billion in gains, with 240 investors earning more than £1 million each accounting for £717 million. The baseline emerges before mandatory third-party reporting begins in 2027.
HM Revenue & Customs disclosed £1.38 billion in reported UK crypto gains for the 2024 to 2025 tax year, marking the first time the agency published crypto-specific Capital Gains Tax data. The release reveals extreme wealth concentration: 240 investors who each reported more than £1 million in gains accounted for £717 million, or roughly half the total declared gains.
The baseline captures 17,600 individuals who reported £13.8 billion of cryptoasset disposal proceeds for the 2024 to 2025 tax year, according to CryptoSlate reporting. Data comes from a dedicated crypto section added to Self Assessment returns, capturing declared Capital Gains Tax-liable disposals rather than every crypto transaction in Britain. The figures exclude income from employment, mining, staking, and lending, which are taxed under Income Tax rules, so the £1.38 billion does not represent total crypto-related tax liability for the year.
The timing is significant. Crypto businesses covered by the Common Reporting Standard for crypto assets (CARF) began collecting customer and transaction information in January 2026. HMRC expects to start receiving provider reports under CARF in 2027, marking the agency's first independent visibility into platform activity rather than reliance on Self Assessment declarations. Crypto owners with reportable gains or income for the 2025 to 2026 tax year must file a Self Assessment return and pay tax due by January 31, 2027.
HMRC's crypto compliance and education work generated £168 million of additional Capital Gains Tax during 2024 to 2025, according to the agency's own accounting. The data comes from Self Assessment returns and cannot show how much crypto activity went unreported. The baseline captures declared gains only, not the full universe of transactions in Britain, leaving open how significantly reporting will shift once platform-level data begins flowing to HMRC in 2027.
17,600 UK investors reported £1.38 billion in crypto gains in 2024-25, with 240 whale investors (each reporting over £1 million) controlling half the total, establishing a formal tax baseline before third-party reporting rules take effect.
Watch for HMRC's first reconciliation between the declared £1.38 billion baseline and platform reports arriving in 2027 and 2028. If independent reporting reveals material discrepancies in the size of non-compliance, the agency will have both justification and data to enforce larger settlements or pursue criminal cases, fundamentally shifting the risk calculus for UK investors.
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