HMRC Cracks Down on Crypto Gains with £717 Million from 240 UK Millionaires

HMRC has released data showing that 240 individuals in the UK declared over £1 million in crypto capital gains for the 2024-25 tax year, totaling £717 million. This is a small fraction of the 17,600 taxpayers who reported capital gains, but represents a significant portion of the total amount - £1.38 billion.

The data also shows that HMRC sent out 81,000 crypto tax letters over the past year, a 25% increase from the previous period. This effort has already recovered £168 million in capital gains tax revenues for the agency.

Bigger changes are coming as well - from April 6, 2027, new rules will shift how certain DeFi transactions get taxed, deferring capital gains tax until an economic disposal actually happens. This is expected to affect around 700,000 individuals in the UK.