UK tax authority seeks customer data from overseas cryptocurrency exchanges

The UK tax authority (HMRC) has begun gathering information on customers of foreign cryptocurrency exchanges from overseas tax authorities. Decrypt reports this, citing Gherson Solicitors.

The names and addresses of both permanent and one-off users of trading platforms are involved. According to the firm, the authority is also interested in information on transaction frequency and total asset holdings.

“For some, it may come as a surprise that they [HMRC] are doing this in cooperation with authorities outside the United Kingdom and are effectively gathering data on an international level,” said Thomas Ketty, a solicitor at Gherson Solicitors.

The firm added that the exchanges had already provided information for 2017/18 and 2019/20, but HMRC requested a “large volume of data” for those same periods. The names of the trading platforms were not disclosed.

In 2019, HMRC published guidance on cryptocurrency operations. The service classified cryptocurrencies traded on exchanges as commodities, clarifying that taxes apply to trading, mining, and the sale of goods and services for digital assets.

In March 2021 the agency updated its guidance and for the first time mentioned crypto-collateralized loans and staking.

Earlier in the Ziglu survey, 11% of British adults plan to acquire digital assets. One in ten residents already owns them.

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