Here at Camuso CPA, we offer a wide array of tax services for cryptocurrency investors including tax preparation and tax planning. Financial service companies are transitioning from employee driven revenue models to information driven revenue models. Camuso CPA strives to deliver useful insights and offer relevant explanations about the latest tax and financial topics.

The United Kingdom’s tax agency has released an explanation of how it sees cryptocurrency assets and how individuals will be taxed on their holdings. The report focuses on how individuals possessing cryptocurrency might be taxed,but does not outline the tax structure for tokens held by businesses or for business purposes. Guidance on that will be published at a later date. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is the government agency responsible for collecting taxes.

This does not impact US investors, but we watch all crypto tax regulation developments closely to gain insights to perspectives and circumstances that can impact future legislation here in the USA. Much like the US the UK tends to view crypto tax property for tax purposes.

The report notes a token’s treatment for tax purposes is dependent on the token’s use case, rather than its definition. Cryptocurrencies will not be taxed in the same way as gambling. The report goes into detail, explaining how and when their transactions may be classified as securities. To simplify the calculations required, taxpayers are permitted to pool different assets together.

Investors who purchase tokens specifically in the hopes that their value will increase will be required to pay capital gains tax when they sell, while individuals who receive tokens from their employers as a form of payment, from mining, transaction fees or airdrops will have to pay income tax and national insurance contributions.

Tax authorities across the world will continue to issue further guidance and focus more heavily on cryptocurrency tax compliance. We will continue to track these developments closely.  Time will tell, but it will be interesting to see how things develop here in the states related to the designation of cryptocurrency as intangible property from the Private Letter Ruling in 2014.

Patrick Camuso, CPA is founder and owner of Camuso CPA, a Charlotte, NC based CPA firm consulting to cryptocurrency investors, miners and business nationwide.