Over the past two tax years, 502 crypto investors in Britain reached disclosure settlements with HM Revenue and Customs, handing over a combined £8.3 million in unpaid digital asset taxes.
The figures come from a Freedom of Information request filed by compliance provider Identomat and reported by the Financial Times. In 2024-25, 280 investors settled for a total of £3.5 million. The following year that number dropped to 222, but the combined value climbed to roughly £4.8 million, pushing the average settlement across both years to around £16,600.
HMRC's crypto disclosure campaign, launched in November 2023, lets investors voluntarily report unpaid taxes on exchange tokens, utility tokens, and NFTs before enforcement catches up with them.
Warning letters have been flying out at an accelerating pace. Between 2020 and 2025, HMRC sent 101,024 crypto-related notices. Nearly 65,000 of those landed in the 2024-25 tax year alone, more than double the 27,712 sent the year before.
UK tax rules treat crypto broadly. Selling, swapping, or certain transfers can trigger capital gains tax, while crypto earned through employment or mining may fall under income tax and National Insurance instead.
Miss a payment and the consequences stack up fast. HMRC can impose penalties of up to 100% of the unpaid amount, plus interest. Offshore transactions can carry even steeper surcharges.
The pressure is about to get more systematic. The Cryptoasset Reporting Framework took effect in the UK on January 1, requiring crypto service providers to collect user data, transaction records, and tax residency information and pass it directly to HMRC. Details on foreign users will also flow to tax authorities in participating countries, a mechanism similar to what has long existed for traditional bank accounts.
HMRC noted that settlement figures represent only part of its enforcement picture, which also covers tax inquiries, data-matching operations, and targeted compliance sweeps. The £8 million collected so far is, by the agency's own admission, a fraction of what it is chasing.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or tax advice.
