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2023-03-31

Yield farming or DeFi interest

Earnings from yield farming or lending crypto in DeFi platforms are taxed as income at the time they are received. However, depositing into and withdrawing from a liquidity pool may be treated as a disposal, which is a capital gains event.

  • Example: Earning £500 in interest from a DeFi platform is subject to Income Tax.

Payments for goods or services

Receiving cryptocurrency as payment for goods or services is treated as income at its market value when received. There are instances where the “value” of the work will be taxed instead of the value of the crypto received. Professional advice should be taken if you are unsure.

  • Example: If you're paid 0.2 BTC for freelance work worth £6,000, this amount is subject to Income Tax.

Receiving airdrops

If you actively participate to receive an airdrop (e.g., completing tasks), the tokens are treated as income at their market value upon receipt.

  • Example: Earning £100 in tokens from an airdrop after completing tasks is subject to Income Tax.

Mining rewards

Mining rewards are taxed as income. Those undertaking mining activities to an extent to which they are operating a business will be subject to additional tax obligations.

  • Example: Earning 0.5 BTC through mining worth £10,000 at the time of receipt is subject to Income Tax.

Staking rewards

Cryptocurrency earned through staking is considered income at the market value at the time of receipt.

  • Example: If you earn 0.1 ETH through staking worth £200, this amount is subject to Income Tax.

Providing liquidity

Adding liquidity: If adding assets to a liquidity pool results in a change of ownership or creates a new token (e.g., LP tokens), it may be considered a taxable disposal, with CGT applying to any gains. The answer to this can usually be found within the terms and conditions of the protocol.

Removing liquidity: Removing assets from a liquidity pool may also be a disposal, potentially triggering CGT based on the gain or loss relative to the cost basis.

Liquidity pool rewards are generally treated as taxable income upon receipt, subject to Income Tax.

Selling airdropped tokens

Selling tokens received through an airdrop is a taxable disposal.

Tokens received without any action (eg, unsolicited distributions) are not taxed as income upon receipt. Instead, they are subject to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) when sold, with the cost basis typically being zero or the fair market value at the time of receipt if explicitly stated by HMRC.

Tokens earned through performing tasks (eg, completing activities) are taxed as income at the market value in GBP upon receipt. When sold, the gain or loss is subject to CGT, calculated using the market value at receipt as the cost basis.

  • Example: You perform a series of tasks to qualify for an airdrop. You then sell that airdropped token for £500 and it has a cost basis of £200. The £200 cost basis would have been subject to income tax in the tax year in which it was received and the £300 gain is subject to CGT in the tax year in which the token is sold.

Selling NFTs

Disposing of NFTs is treated similarly to crypto disposals, with gains subject to CGT.

  • Example: If you bought an NFT for £1,000 and sold it for £3,000, the £2,000 profit is taxable.

Gifting cryptocurrency (excluding spouse or civil partner)

Gifting crypto to someone triggers CGT based on the market value at the time of the gift. Gifting to registered charities or your spouse or civil partner does not trigger a taxable event. Here, we have often seen individuals gifting tokens to others but keeping them in their own wallet. If this is the case, it is very important to document the gift. Consider speaking to a tax advisor if you are uncertain of your position.

  • Example: Giving 1 ETH to a friend worth £2,000 incurs CGT on any gains above its cost basis.

Using crypto to purchase goods or services

Spending cryptocurrency on goods or services is considered a disposal.

  • Example: Paying 0.5 BTC for a laptop is a taxable event. If the BTC had a cost basis of £5,000 but was worth £10,000 at the time of the transaction, the £5,000 gain is subject to CGT.

Crypto-to-crypto trades (swaps)

Exchanging one cryptocurrency for another (e.g., BTC for ETH) is treated as a disposal for tax purposes.

  • Example: Swapping BTC worth £5,000 for ETH creates a taxable event, with any profit based on the cost basis of your Bitcoin. The value of the BTC when swapping will be the proceeds and will also become the cost of the ETH that has been obtained.

Selling crypto for GBP

Any profit made when you sell crypto for fiat currency (e.g., GBP) is a taxable event.

  • Example: If you bought BTC for £10,000 and sold it for £15,000, you have a taxable gain of £5,000.

How Investing vs Trading impacts tax

In most cases of buying and selling cryptocurrency as a retail investor, you are participating in investing rather than trading. The two are treated differently for tax purposes.

  • Investing is subject to capital gains tax or income tax, depending on the nature of the transaction.
  • Trading in this case refers to self-employment which is subject to income tax and National Insurance Contributions.

The key difference between investing and trading – along with the different tax treatments, is how losses generated in the crypto-activity can be used.

In their guidance, HMRC have explicitly stated that they would expect it to be exceedingly rare that any crypto-activity constituting buying & selling crypto would be classified as “trading”.

If you are uncertain, speak to a tax advisor as there are always exceptions, including but not limited to, developing tokens and large scale mining.

How is crypto tax calculated in the United States?

You can be liable for both capital gains and income tax depending on the type of cryptocurrency transaction, and your individual circumstances. For example, you might need to pay capital gains on profits from buying and selling cryptocurrency, or pay income tax on interest earned when holding crypto.

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blog
31
 
Mar
 
2023
 - 
10
min read

Product update - 6th June 2022

At Summ (formerly Crypto Tax Calculator), we are constantly working on improving our product so you can have the best experience at tax time. Check out our blog for the latest product updates.

Key takeaways
This tax guide is regularly updated: Last Update  
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New Features

New Category: Bridge

We have added the ability to manually categorize bridging transactions. For every bridging transaction, the cost base of the asset on Blockchain A will be transferred to Blockchain B.

If you’d like to read about the fine details of the newly implemented Bridge category, please read this help document. The key details can also be found below:

  • For every Bridge In, there must be a Bridge Out, and vice versa

  • The asset sent and the asset received from the bridge do not have to be the same asset - however their value must be equivalent

Saved blockchain addresses

Do you frequently interact with a particular address or smart contract? Would you like to be able to name the wallet which you’re interacting with, without having to import its transaction data?

You are now able to name blockchain addresses by simply clicking on any unknown blockchain address visible in the review transactions page. Upon clicking on the address, a pop-up will appear to save this known wallet. You are also able to rename and delete any saved addresses.

Dashboard now shows reported balance + new holdings dropdown

Previously, the figures on the Dashboard page were the Summ (formerly Crypto Tax Calculator) Calculated Balances. After this most recent update, the dashboard now shows your Reported Holdings where possible. Reported Holdings refers to the value and amount of currencies being held by your wallet/exchange according to the wallet/exchange themselves.

The difference between these 2 values can now be found on the balance dropdown for reconciliation purposes, see the image above. Not only is this dropdown also accessible for each wallet/exchange on the Import Data page, but also for each asset on the Dashboard.

As a part of this update, the Display Import Balance toggle in the settings page has been removed, since this data is now visible via the import balance dropdown.

Import all EVM addresses at once

When you are importing an EVM wallet, you are now given the ability to import all of your EVM wallets (Arbitrum, Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain, Cronos, Ethereum, Fantom, Optimism, Polygon, xDai).

If the toggle is enabled, we will import every EVM chain with transactions for that particular address, and ignore the EVM chains without any. This toggle does not impact syncing, hard-syncing or deleting wallets.

Support for Coinbase API imports

Coinbase users are now able to import their Coinbase transaction data via CSV, API and OAuth connection. If you have multiple Coinbase accounts to import into Summ, you are now able to do so via our new API integration, as you can add multiple API keys. Note that you are only able to select one of these three import methods.

NFT Royalties tax toggle

You are now able to select whether incoming NFT Royalties should be treated as income or not for tax purposes. We recommend getting professional tax advice if you are unsure of what setting this toggle should be on.

Accountants can now create + invite clients for free

Rather than having to pay upon generating a new client, accountants are now able to create new clients for free. Payment is only required once accountants wish to generate a client’s report. This means that accountants are now able to invite their client, import their data, review their transactions and collaborate with their client before making any payment.

If the accountant then invites an already paying Summ user, the user will continue being billed despite both the accountant and client now having the ability to access the client’s data, including the Get Report page. No need to pay twice.

Integrations

Since our last product newsletter, we have added support for the following exchanges:

  • Support for FTX US NFTs via both API and CSV

  • Support for Kucoin margin trades

  • Support for BTC .com.au's new CSV format

  • Support for Coinbase Pro's new CSV format

  • Support for Coinlist's new CSV format

  • Support for Bitso CSV

The information provided on this website is general in nature and is not tax, accounting or legal advice. It has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on this information, you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs and seek professional advice. Summ (formerly Crypto Tax Calculator) disclaims all and any guarantees, undertakings and warranties, expressed or implied, and is not liable for any loss or damage whatsoever (including human or computer error, negligent or otherwise, or incidental or Consequential Loss or damage) arising out of, or in connection with, any use or reliance on the information or advice in this website. The user must accept sole responsibility associated with the use of the material on this site, irrespective of the purpose for which such use or results are applied. The information in this website is no substitute for specialist advice.

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