UK crypto tax specialists
Leaving the UK With a Large Crypto Position
Moving abroad does not automatically move your crypto out of UK tax. Residence status, the temporary non-residence rules and disposal timing decide the outcome.
- HMRC Cryptoasset Manual applied line by line
- Timestamped pricing feeds for every valuation
- Pooling and the 30-day rule handled correctly
Relocating with a substantial crypto position is one of the few decisions where the tax outcome is settled almost entirely by sequencing. Get the order and the dates right and the position is clean. Get them wrong and gains realised while you were plainly living abroad can still be assessed in the UK.
Residence is a test, not a decision
UK residence is determined by the statutory residence test, which weighs days spent in the UK against defined ties: family, accommodation, work, prior residence and the country in which you spend most days. It is arithmetic, applied to evidence. Intention is irrelevant, and so is where your post is delivered.
The practical work is establishing which limb applies to you, how many UK days you can afford, and what records will prove it if the position is examined years later.
The temporary non-residence trap
Leaving the UK, realising gains, and returning within five years can bring those gains back into charge in the year of return. For crypto holders who plan a short relocation around a specific liquidity event, this rule is frequently the difference between a planned outcome and an unplanned bill. Planning has to assume the possibility of return, not just the fact of departure.
What we advise on
- Statutory residence test analysis and a day-count and evidence regime you can actually maintain.
- Split-year treatment and the timing of disposals around the date of departure.
- Temporary non-residence exposure and how the return year is handled.
- Domicile and, under the current regime, long-term residence status, and what it means for foreign income, gains and inheritance tax.
- Destination interaction, including double tax treaty positions and where the crypto is treated as situated.
- Inheritance tax on crypto, which follows situs and status rather than the location of the exchange.
Who this is for
Holders with seven-figure or larger positions considering relocation, individuals already abroad who are unsure their residence position holds, and those approaching a liquidity event with a move already planned. We work alongside advisers in the destination jurisdiction, because a UK-only answer to a cross-border question is not an answer.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
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Tell us which exchanges and wallets you use and roughly how many transactions you have. We'll come back with a fixed fee and a realistic timeline.
- HMRC Cryptoasset Manual applied line by line
- Timestamped pricing feeds for every valuation
- Pooling and the 30-day rule handled correctly