Crypto Gifts and Spouse Transfers: UK Tax Rules (2025/26)
In the UK, **giving crypto to anyone other than your spouse or civil partner is a disposal for Capital Gains Tax**. HMRC treats it as if you sold at market value on the day, so a gain can arise even though no money changed hands. The big exception: a transfer to your **spouse or civil partner you live with is "no gain, no loss"** under s.58 TCGA 1992, so no CGT at the point of transfer, and they take over your original cost. This is the UK position for 2025/26 (HMRC; England, Wales & NI rates).
Sending some Bitcoin to your partner, your sister, or your kids feels like a personal gift, not a taxable event. But in the UK, HMRC mostly disagrees. For Capital Gains Tax (CGT), giving crypto away is treated the same as selling it. You're taxed on the gain as if you'd received its market value in cash, even though you didn't get a penny.
There is one important carve-out that catches a lot of people by surprise: a transfer to your spouse or civil partner is treated as no gain, no loss, so no CGT arises at that moment. Get the difference right and you can move crypto around a household tax-efficiently; get it wrong and you can owe tax on a gift you thought was free. This guide covers both, with the HMRC rules and worked numbers for the 2025/26 tax year (England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland differs only for income tax, which doesn't affect CGT here).
Is gifting crypto taxable in the UK?
Yes, for almost everyone except your spouse or civil partner. HMRC lists four things that count as a CGT disposal of cryptoassets: selling for money, swapping one crypto for another, spending crypto on goods or services, and giving tokens to another person (unless it's a gift to your spouse, civil partner or a charity).
When you gift crypto to someone who isn't your spouse or civil partner, HMRC's own wording is that you "must work out the pound sterling value of what has been given away" and you are "treated as having received that amount even if you did not actually receive anything". So your gain is the market value of the tokens on the day you gave them away, minus your cost (your Section 104 pool cost), minus allowable fees.
Because you and your relatives are usually "connected persons" in tax law, gifts to family are specifically deemed to happen at market value, so you can't argue you gifted them "for nothing". Moving crypto between your own wallets or exchange accounts is not a disposal, so don't confuse a self-transfer with a gift.
Gifting 0.5 BTC to your brother
You bought 0.5 BTC for £8,000 (its Section 104 pool cost). You gift it to your brother when 0.5 BTC is worth £20,000. Even though no cash reaches you, HMRC treats this as a disposal at market value:
That £9,000 is taxed at 18% within any unused basic-rate band and 24% above it. So a "free" gift can create a real tax bill of roughly £1,620–£2,160. Your brother's cost basis for any future sale is the £20,000 he received it at, not your original £8,000. See how the Section 104 pool sets your cost.
Gifting crypto to your spouse: the no-gain-no-loss rule
Transfers between spouses or civil partners who live together get special treatment under section 58 TCGA 1992: the transfer is deemed to happen at a value that gives the giver neither a gain nor a loss. In plain terms, no CGT arises when you move crypto to your husband, wife or civil partner, and it doesn't matter whether you genuinely gift it or sell it to them, because the actual price is ignored.
What actually happens is that your partner inherits your original cost basis. If you later both want to cash out, the tax is calculated against your old acquisition cost. The gain hasn't disappeared, it's just deferred until your partner makes a real disposal (a sale, swap or spend).
This is genuinely useful. Because each person has their own £3,000 annual exempt amount and their own income tax bands, couples often transfer some crypto to the lower-earning partner before a sale, so more of the gain falls in the 18% band and two AEAs are used instead of one. The rule is simple while you're together: a transfer between spouses or civil partners who are living together at any time in the tax year is automatically no-gain/no-loss. (Separate rules, relaxed for disposals on or after 6 April 2023, give separating couples a longer no-gain/no-loss window after they stop living together.)
Splitting a sale across a couple
You own crypto with a £10,000 gain you want to realise. Instead of selling it all yourself, you transfer half to your spouse (no-gain-no-loss) first, then you each sell. Assume you've each used no other AEA this year.
Sold alone, only one £3,000 AEA applies, leaving £7,000 taxable. Split across the couple, £4,000 is taxable: two AEAs are used, and the spouse's slice may also be taxed at the lower 18% rate if they have spare basic-rate band. The transfer itself triggers no CGT.
| You give crypto to… | CGT treatment | Their cost basis |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse / civil partner (living together) | No gain, no loss, no CGT now (s.58) | They take over your original cost |
| Child, parent, sibling, friend | Disposal at market value, CGT on your gain | Market value on the gift day |
| A registered charity | Generally no CGT, treated as a no-gain/no-loss disposal (the charity takes over your cost), subject to conditions | n/a |
| Yourself (own wallet/exchange) | Not a disposal at all | Unchanged, same pool |
You can't bank a loss by gifting to family
If you gift crypto that's gone down in value to a connected person (a relative other than your spouse/civil partner), the loss is treated as a "clogged loss": it can only be set against future gains on disposals to that same person, not against your other gains. So gifting a losing coin to your son doesn't free up a loss you can use against an unrelated profit. A genuine sale on the open market is the normal way to crystallise a usable loss. See how crypto losses work.
Spouse transfers defer tax, they don't delete it
No-gain-no-loss does not wipe out the gain; your partner just carries your cost forward, so the tax lands when they eventually sell, swap or spend. Keep a record of your original acquisition cost and the date you transferred, because that becomes their figure. Also note this only applies while you're married or in a civil partnership and living together: unmarried partners do not qualify, and the favourable treatment after a separation is time-limited.
What about Inheritance Tax on crypto gifts?
Gifting crypto can have an Inheritance Tax (IHT) angle as well as a CGT one; they're separate taxes that can both touch the same gift. Most lifetime gifts to individuals are "potentially exempt transfers": if you live for 7 years after making the gift, there's normally no IHT on it. If you die within 7 years, the gift can count towards your estate, with possible taper relief on the IHT depending on timing.
Several allowances can take ordinary gifts outside IHT entirely, for example the £3,000 annual exemption for gifts (a separate thing from the £3,000 CGT exempt amount), small gifts, and gifts out of normal income. Transfers between spouses and civil partners are generally exempt from IHT too.
IHT depends heavily on the size of your estate, the timing, and your personal circumstances, so treat this section as context, not advice. For anything beyond a modest gift, check the GOV.UK IHT pages below or speak to a qualified adviser. The CGT rules above are the part that bites most crypto holders day to day.
How do I report a crypto gift to HMRC?
A taxable gift (to anyone other than your spouse/civil partner or a charity) goes through Self Assessment exactly like a sale. You report the deemed market-value proceeds and your gain in the cryptoassets section of the SA108 Capital Gains Summary, boxes 13.1–13.8.
You must report if your total gains for the year are over £3,000, or your total disposal proceeds are over £50,000, and remember the gift's market value counts towards both figures even though no cash came in. For the 2025/26 year you register by 5 October 2026 and file and pay online by 31 January 2027.
A no-gain-no-loss spouse transfer generally doesn't need reporting at the point of transfer, since there's no gain or loss to declare, but keep clear records of the cost you handed over. Assume HMRC can see your exchange activity: under the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), UK crypto firms start collecting user and transaction data from 1 January 2026, with first reports to HMRC due by 31 May 2027, and HMRC already sends "nudge" letters. Report accurately. You can check your figures with our free calculator or read how we calculate everything, and there's a full walkthrough of the SA108 crypto boxes. If you're still getting to grips with the basics, the complete UK crypto tax guide walks through how it all fits together.
Crypto gift tax: common questions
Is gifting crypto taxable in the UK? Yes. Giving crypto to anyone other than your spouse, civil partner or a charity is a disposal for Capital Gains Tax. You're taxed on the gain as if you'd sold at the tokens' market value on the day, even though no money reached you.
Do I pay tax gifting crypto to my spouse? No. A transfer to a spouse or civil partner you live with is no gain, no loss (s.58 TCGA 1992), so no CGT arises at the transfer. They take over your original cost, and the gain is taxed only when they later sell, swap or spend.
How much is the tax on a crypto gift? The taxable gain (market value, minus your Section 104 pool cost, minus your £3,000 annual exempt amount) is taxed at 18% within your basic-rate band and 24% above it. A £12,000 gain after the allowance, for example, is roughly £1,620–£2,160 of CGT.
Do I have to report a crypto gift to HMRC? Report a taxable gift through Self Assessment (SA108) if your total gains for the year exceed £3,000 or your total disposal proceeds exceed £50,000; the gift's market value counts towards both. A no-gain-no-loss spouse transfer generally needs no report at the time, but keep a record of the cost you handed over.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Check if you need to pay tax when you sell cryptoassets
- HMRC CRYPTO22100: What is a disposal
- HMRC CG22200: Transfers between spouses / civil partners (s.58, no gain/no loss)
- HMRC CG14560: Transactions between connected persons (market value & clogged losses)
- Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, Section 58
- GOV.UK: Capital Gains Tax allowances (annual exempt amount)
- GOV.UK: Capital Gains Tax rates
- GOV.UK: How Inheritance Tax works: thresholds, rules and allowances
- GOV.UK: Inheritance Tax on gifts (7-year rule, exemptions)
- GOV.UK: Self Assessment deadlines
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Start free →This guide is information, not tax advice.Figures and thresholds are for the tax year shown (England, Wales & Northern Ireland; Scottish income tax bands differ). Rates and rules can change, and your own position may differ — check your circumstances and speak to an accountant before you file. CryptoCGT is an information tool, not a regulated tax adviser.