Crypto assets to become a separate category in the UK tax forms

As Great Britain is gradually moving to its own comprehensive crypto framework, the Treasury introduces a separate category for crypto assets into the tax return forms. The particular line should appear in the tax forms in 2024-25. 

On March 15, His Majesty’s Treasury of the United Kingdom published a report paper on the national budget for Spring 2023. The document announces the amendment of the self-assessment forms for crypto assets.

In the table of anticipated expenses and revenues of the national budget the crypto assets, the numbers against the crypto assets line appear only starting from the year 2025-26. That means British citizens would have to declare them for the first time in the previous tax year, 2024-25. At the moment, Treasury doesn’t provide any specific numbers of anticipated budget revenues from this tax category — the numbers in the table stand at the nominal mark of 10 million British pounds ($12 million).

Related: UK banks HSBC, Nationwide to ban crypto purchases with credit cards

The changes were welcomed by The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), the leading professional body that analyzes national tax policies. As the Deputy President of the CIOT, Gary Ashford, stated:

“Highlighting the need to declare crypto asset transactions in the tax return will help raise awareness of people’s obligations in this area.”

He, however, highlighted the need for additional measures to counter “widespread ignorance of tax payment and reporting requirements for crypto.” According to Ashford, it is law-income crypto investors who don’t possess sufficient understanding of tax reporting. 

Earlier in March, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reported to the Treasure that it is “midway through a quite ambitious reset” as the Financial Services and Markets bill makes its way through the Parliament. When passed, the bill would give the FCA new regulatory powers over the cryptocurrency industry.