Ex Tax Inspector Amit Puri Says HMRC Only Secured £4M From Crypto Tax Disclosures

Article highlights poor uptake of HMRC's bespoke Cryptoassets Disclosure Facility, despite having written out to over 100,000 people by the end of 2024/25

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, February 17, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Cryptoasset Disclosure Service

HMRC’s new 'cryptoasset disclosure service' has been running for over two years, but it has only generated £4,154,316 revenue over those years confirms HMRC. This news comes despite HMRC previously confirming that it had sent over 100,000 letters to prompt crypto investors to come forward voluntarily and pay the taxes they owed.

This low response rightly raises questions about the level of awareness about tax compliance within the crypto community.

HMRC launched the cryptoassets tax disclosure service at the end of 2023, for anyone with historic UK tax errors to use. But, having sent out 27,713 crypto tax-related nudge letters by the end of 2023/24, it has confirmed that only 17 disclosures were made that year. Only £136,403 was offered across those, which suggested the disclosures were worth just over £8,000 each.

* See Amit's full article, written for AccountingWEB.co.uk - "HMRC’s cryptoasset disclosure nets just £4m" *

What has HMRC done to find cryptoasset investors?

HMRC has approached cryptoasset platforms directly for copies of their records on UK resident investors previously. They then wrote out to the investors using their one-to-many / nudge letters, as highlighted.

HMRC has also signed up to the international Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which will see comprehensive information about crypto investors and their cryptoassets being shared with HMRC automatically, annually. Platforms have been obligated to collect this data from 1 January 2026.

How many people have used the cryptoasset disclosure facility?

HMRC has very recently confirmed that only 405 crypto tax disclosures had been made, as at 4 December 2025. See more here:

Year Number of disclosures made Total amounts offered
2023/2024 17 £136,403.47
2024/2025 243 £3,998,066.11
2025/2026 145 £1,922,847.67 (ongoing tax year)

Who has to pay tax on cryptoassets?

Many cryptoasset investors have failed to report their crypto gains to date. That’s what HMRC believes, and anecdotally, this appears to be quite true. Also, many have failed to recognise that even changing from one type of cryptoasset to another is a chargeable disposal for tax purposes. Cryptoassets continue to pose a significant tax risk for HMRC.

HMRC has been additionally frustrated by investors using international crypto trading platforms, which were not required to share any information with HMRC. However, this has changed drastically from 1 January 2026.

How to correct historic cryptoasset tax errors in the UK

Tax disclosure facilities offer the most favourable treatment and approach from HMRC, being streamlined in comparison to enduring compliance checks / enquiries into the same. This is especially the case where someone wants to make a wholly unprompted, voluntary disclosure. Also, in most cases, there should not be any penalties at all if handled well.

If you or your client has been contacted by HMRC about cryptoasset gains, the process that follows should be kept on track and focused to bring about a swift conclusion. One must fully review the buying, exchanging and selling data, so that annual tax calculations are robustly prepared. That includes obtaining the raw data in an efficient way.

Prompted tax disclosures cost more overall because of penalty implications. Investors could even find themselves defending against allegations of deliberate actions or dishonesty, under e.g. a Code of Practice 9 investigation / the Contractual Disclosure Facility. Also, there is the possibility of being named and shamed publicly too.

The take home messages remains the same. Review your crypto investments and the transactions that give rise to reportable tax declarations, e.g. sales and swapping crypto. Make a voluntary disclosure to bring cryptoasset tax affairs up-to-date, and get on to the correct footing with HMRC to avoid penalties.

Amit Puri
Pure Tax Investigations
+44 20 3757 5669
info@pure-tax.com
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