Can A Crypto Accountant Help With Both Personal And Business Taxes?

Crypto Accountants: More Than Just Bitcoin Calculators

So, Can a Crypto Accountant Help With Both Personal and Business Taxes?

Short answer — yes, and in many cases, they should.

A well-qualified crypto accountant in the UK isn’t just a “spreadsheet wizard” for your Bitcoin trades. If they’re worth their salt, they’ll be able to integrate your entire tax picture — from PAYE earnings to business profits, from capital gains on Ethereum to VAT on NFT-related services — into one coherent plan.

In my 18 years advising clients across London and beyond, I’ve seen first-hand that the biggest tax wins often come from joining the dots between personal and business finances. If your accountant only looks at one side of the equation, you’re at risk of overpaying HMRC, missing allowances, or triggering unexpected bills.

The 2025/26 UK Tax Landscape — Why It Matters for Crypto

Before we get into how a crypto accountant operates, you need a clear picture of the playing field.

The personal allowance remains frozen at £12,570 for 2025/26, with the basic rate of 20% up to £50,270 (England, Northern Ireland, Wales). That freeze, alongside inflation, means more people are creeping into higher bands — including crypto investors who sell at the wrong time.

Table 1 – 2025/26 Income Tax Bands (England, NI, Wales)

Band

Income Range

Rate

Personal allowance

Up to £12,570

0%

Basic rate

£12,571 – £50,270

20%

Higher rate

£50,271 – £125,140

40%

Additional rate

Over £125,140

45%

Scottish taxpayers face different bands and rates (starter rate 19%, basic 20%, intermediate 21%, higher 42%, top 47%), which can create interesting mismatches if you run a company registered in England but live in Scotland.

Why Crypto Is a Different Beast in Tax Terms

Crypto assets are taxed in the UK not as currency, but as property. HMRC treats most disposals — selling, swapping, spending — as subject to Capital Gains Tax (CGT). Business-related crypto activity (like mining or trading as a company) falls into income or corporation tax territory.

For individuals, the CGT annual exempt amount has been slashed to £3,000 for 2025/26. Above that, gains are taxed at:

• 10% if you’re in the basic rate income tax band.
• 20% if you’re in the higher/additional bands.

This matters because your income tax band affects your CGT rate. That’s why a crypto accountant in the UK looking after both your personal and business taxes can plan your disposals more intelligently — for example, delaying a crypto sale to keep you in a lower band.

How a Crypto Accountant Integrates Personal & Business Tax Planning

A good crypto accountant will:

1. Map all income sources — salary, dividends, self-employment, rental income, and crypto gains.
3. Check tax code accuracy — especially important if you’ve got multiple jobs or income streams.
5. Review your business structure — sole trader vs. limited company — to see which gives you the best combined outcome.
7. Plan disposals to fit your annual allowances and avoid tipping into higher bands.
9. Coordinate NICs — ensuring you’re not overpaying Class 2/4 as self-employed and Class 1 as an employee.

Step-by-Step: How They Can Check Your Personal and Business Tax Position

Step 1 – Gather Everything

• Your latest P60 (from employment).
• Your Self Assessment tax return or year-end accounts.
• Records of all crypto transactions (date, amount, GBP value, fees).
• Dividend vouchers, rental statements, pension contributions.

Step 2 – Check Your Tax Code

Log into your personal tax account and verify your tax code.

• If you see codes like 1257L (standard) or something odd like BR, check why — BR means all income is taxed at basic rate, which may be wrong.
• Crypto gains don’t appear in PAYE tax codes — they’re settled via Self Assessment, so a mismatch here can mean you’re under or overpaying.

Step 3 – Calculate Total Income

• Add up employment income, dividends, business profits, and gains.
• Remember: Gains are added after your income to determine CGT rates.

Step 4 – Compare to Allowances and Bands

Use Table 1 (or Scottish equivalents) to see if you’ve crossed into a higher rate due to crypto gains.

Step 5 – Spot Overpayments or Risks

• Overpayment signs: large tax deductions on your payslip despite other income being small; emergency tax codes; duplication of NICs.
• Underpayment risks: unreported crypto gains, dividend over-allowance, missing child benefit charge.

Step 6 – Adjust

• Your accountant can submit a code change request, amend Self Assessment, or file a refund claim.

Case Study: PAYE Worker with a Profitable Crypto Side Hustle

Meet James — works full-time in Bristol, earns £42,000 a year under PAYE. In 2025/26, he sells £8,000 worth of Bitcoin he bought years ago, making a £5,000 gain.

1. Employment income: £42,000.
3. Crypto gain: £5,000.
5. CGT annual exemption: £3,000 → taxable gain £2,000.

Since James’s total income (£42,000) keeps him in the basic rate band, his £2,000 gain is taxed at 10% = £200.

But here’s the twist — James’s tax code was set as if he had two jobs, so he’s been paying basic rate on all income without using his full personal allowance. His crypto accountant spots this in 10 minutes, files a code correction, and James gets a £480 refund for overpaid PAYE.

Table 2 – How Crypto Gains Can Change Your Tax Rate

Scenario

Income (salary)

Crypto gain

Total taxable income

CGT rate

Within basic rate band

£30,000

£5,000

£35,000

10%

Just tipping into higher band

£48,000

£10,000

£58,000

First £2,270 @10%, rest @20%

Already higher rate

£80,000

£5,000

£85,000

20%

If you’re dabbling in crypto while also earning through employment or running a business, a crypto accountant who handles both personal and business taxes doesn’t just file forms — they orchestrate your whole financial position. This joined-up view is often the difference between paying exactly what you owe and accidentally gifting HMRC hundreds (or thousands) extra.

How a Crypto Accountant Navigates Complex UK Tax Scenarios

When Life Isn’t Just One Payslip and One Wallet

Picture this: You’ve got a salary coming in, a small self-employed gig on the side, and a few thousand quid in crypto you’ve been holding since 2020. Oh — and your partner claims child benefit, you live in Scotland, and you’ve just been hit with an emergency tax code after switching jobs. Sounds messy? It is. But this is exactly the sort of tangle a good crypto accountant can straighten out.

Multiple Income Sources — Why They Can Push You into Higher Tax

Having more than one income stream sounds great until you realise HMRC treats them all as part of one big pot. Here’s where people get caught:

• PAYE job: taxed at source using a code.
• Self-employed income: taxed via Self Assessment.
• Crypto gains: also go into Self Assessment and push up your “total taxable income”.
• Dividends: even if tax-free up to £500, they still count toward your income for band purposes.

I’ve seen people move from basic to higher rate without realising it, simply because they sold crypto in a profitable year.

National Insurance — Avoiding Double Dipping

If you’re both employed and self-employed, you could be paying:

• Class 1 NIC on your salary.
• Class 2 & Class 4 NIC on your self-employed profits.

Your accountant can apply for a deferment if your Class 1 already covers the maximum NICs for the year — preventing an overpayment that HMRC might not automatically refund.

Scottish and Welsh Income Tax Differences

Scotland has more bands and higher rates in the middle income brackets. Crypto gains still use UK-wide CGT rates, but your income band — and therefore which CGT rate you pay — is based on Scottish thresholds.

Scottish 2025/26 rates:

Band

Income Range

Rate

Starter

£12,571–£14,876

19%

Basic

£14,877–£26,561

20%

Intermediate

£26,562–£43,662

21%

Higher

£43,663–£125,140

42%

Top

Over £125,140

47%

This can mean you hit a higher marginal rate earlier in Scotland than in England. I’ve had clients move north thinking they’d pay less tax overall — only to find their crypto sales cost more in tax.

Wales currently mirrors England’s income tax rates, but devolved powers mean this could change in future budgets.

Emergency Tax Codes — A Silent Overpayment Killer

If you change jobs mid-year or start self-employment while keeping a PAYE job, you might end up on an emergency code like 1257L W1/M1. This means your personal allowance is recalculated each pay period instead of across the year — often overtaxing you.

A crypto accountant will:

1. Check your payslips for codes.
3. Compare your total earnings to your allowance.
5. Apply to HMRC for a code correction mid-year, not just wait for the annual P800 reconciliation.

The High Income Child Benefit Charge Trap

If your adjusted net income (salary + gains + other taxable income) exceeds £50,000, you start losing child benefit via the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC). This includes crypto gains — even if they’re one-off.

Example:

• Salary £48,000.
• Crypto gain £6,000 → £3,000 taxable after allowance.
• Total adjusted income = £51,000 → triggers 10% child benefit clawback.

Your accountant can help plan sales to keep you under the £50k line — or at least warn you before you trigger the charge.

Case Study: Limited Company Director Trading Crypto

Meet Priya — runs a digital marketing agency (Ltd), pays herself £12,570 salary + £40,000 in dividends. Her company occasionally invests surplus funds into crypto, realising £15,000 gains this year.

1. Corporation Tax — Gains made by the company are taxable as part of profits at 25% (main rate, as profits exceed £250k combined with associated companies).
3. Extracting Profits — If Priya withdraws after-tax crypto profits as dividends, they’re taxed again personally (8.75%, 33.75%, or 39.35% depending on her band).
5. Personal CGT — If she also holds crypto personally, those gains are completely separate and use her personal CGT allowance and rates.

A crypto accountant handling both sides can:

• Decide whether crypto should be bought personally or via the company.
• Time withdrawals to minimise higher-rate dividend tax.
• Offset any company crypto losses against other trading profits.

Table 3 – Corporation vs. Personal Tax on Crypto Gains

Scenario

Gain

Tax Type

Rate

Net after tax

Personal (basic rate)

£5k

CGT

10%

£4,500

Personal (higher rate)

£5k

CGT

20%

£4,000

Company + higher rate dividend

£5k

Corp tax 25% + dividend 33.75%

~51% total

£2,450

Step-by-Step: Checking Your Position via HMRC’s Personal Tax Account

Step 1 – Log in at HMRC Personal Tax Account.

Step 2 – View “Tax Code” and “Pay As You Earn” sections.

• Check income HMRC thinks you’re earning.
• Look for any duplicated allowances or missing adjustments.

Step 3 – Go to “Self Assessment” if registered.

• Compare your submitted figures to actual bank statements and crypto records.

Step 4 – Check “National Insurance” record.

• Look for any overpayments due to mixed Class 1/2/4.

Step 5 – If you see errors, your accountant can:

• Submit a code change.
• File an amended return.
• Request an overpayment refund (often processed within 4–6 weeks).

Why DIY Often Misses the Mark

Yes, you can check all of this yourself. But unless you know exactly how crypto gains interact with PAYE, NICs, and business profits, it’s easy to miss overlaps or allowances. I’ve seen self-filers accidentally:

• Pay CGT at 20% when most of their gain should have been at 10%.
• Forget to claim trading losses from crypto-to-crypto swaps.
• Miss NIC deferment requests and lose hundreds.

A crypto accountant ties it all together — and often pays for themselves in the first year just by fixing past overpayments.

Turning Crypto Accounting into a Tax-Saving Strategy

It’s Not Just About Filing — It’s About Planning Ahead

None of us loves tax surprises, but here’s the thing: the best crypto accountants don’t just deal with last year’s figures — they help you shape next year’s tax bill before it’s set in stone. In my practice, I’ve often saved clients thousands by making small, well-timed decisions that a year-end-only approach would’ve missed.

Strategic Planning: Timing Is Everything

When you sell crypto, the tax point is the date of disposal. A good accountant will:

• Time disposals across two tax years to use two sets of allowances.
• Use years with lower income to realise bigger gains at the 10% CGT rate.
• Bring forward losses to offset gains before the annual exempt amount is wasted.

Example: You’re due a career break next year. Selling £20k of crypto in that year could keep you in the basic rate band — halving your CGT rate.

Business Deductions in the Crypto World

If you’re trading crypto as a business — mining, staking as a service, NFT marketplace operations — you can claim allowable expenses against profits:

• Hardware and electricity (mining).
• Professional fees (including your crypto accountant!).
• Software and security tools.
• Exchange fees and blockchain transaction costs.

Be careful here — I’ve seen clients trip up by claiming personal laptop costs as a full deduction when only part is used for business. HMRC can and does disallow overclaimed expenses.

VAT and Crypto — When Does It Apply?

Most buying and selling of cryptocurrency itself is exempt from VAT, but if you’re providing services paid in crypto (web design, consulting), VAT rules apply to the GBP-equivalent value.

If you run a business that takes crypto payments and you’re VAT-registered, you still account for VAT as if the payment was made in sterling. That’s a detail that trips up even seasoned entrepreneurs.

Compliance Essentials — Staying on HMRC’s Good Side

Crypto records need to be meticulous. HMRC’s cryptoasset manual (updated July 2025) states that you should keep:

• Dates of transactions.
• GBP value at the time.
• Counterparty details (where possible).
• Transaction IDs.

If you can’t produce records, HMRC may estimate — and those estimates rarely work in your favour.

Building a Year-Round Tax Check Routine

Think of it as a fitness plan for your finances. A good crypto accountant will help you set up quarterly “mini-reviews” so you can adjust before 5 April.

Table 4 – Year-Round Tax Review Checklist

Quarter

Actions

Apr–Jun

Review previous year’s return for missed claims; update crypto ledger.

Jul–Sep

Mid-year income projection; adjust payment on account if needed.

Oct–Dec

Plan disposals before 31 Dec if spreading across tax years.

Jan–Mar

Finalise sales, top up pension for relief, trigger any final loss claims.

Case Study: Avoiding a £9,000 Underpayment

Lisa, a Manchester-based consultant, had PAYE income of £60k and side income from freelance design. She also sold £18k worth of crypto in 2024/25, realising a £7k gain. She filed herself, paying 20% CGT across the gain.

When she came to me for 2025/26, I spotted she’d been in higher rate for part of 2024/25 — meaning most of that gain should have been taxed at 20%, not 10%. She’d underpaid £9,000 including late payment interest.

We corrected the return, negotiated a time-to-pay arrangement, and set up quarterly checks to prevent repeat errors. It wasn’t a fun conversation — but it saved her from a much worse HMRC penalty.

Original Tax Self-Check Worksheet (Personal & Business)

Income

• Salary: £_________
• Self-employed profits: £_________
• Dividends: £_________
• Rental income: £_________
• Other: £_________

Crypto

• Total disposals this year: £_________
• Gains realised: £_________
• Losses realised: £_________
• Net gain: £_________

Tax Codes & NICs

• Current PAYE code: _______
• NIC class(es) paid: _______

Actions

• ☐ Check tax code online.
• ☐ Compare income to bands.
• ☐ Plan disposals for optimal CGT rate.
• ☐ Review NIC contributions for overlaps.

Summary of Key Points

1. A crypto accountant can manage both personal and business tax affairs — and often should, to avoid missed allowances and overpayments.
3. 2025/26 tax bands and frozen allowances mean more people are drifting into higher rates, especially with crypto gains added on.
5. CGT rates depend on your income band — 10% basic, 20% higher/additional — making timing and planning crucial.
7. Multiple income sources can trigger unexpected higher rate tax and National Insurance overlaps without careful management.
9. Scottish taxpayers face earlier higher rates than in England/Wales, affecting CGT indirectly.
11. Emergency tax codes and child benefit clawback are common, expensive traps when gains push up income.
13. Limited company crypto gains are taxed differently from personal ones, and extracting profits can trigger double taxation.
15. Year-round planning beats year-end firefighting — quarterly reviews allow disposals, pension top-ups, and loss claims to be optimised.
17. Meticulous record-keeping is non-negotiable for HMRC compliance, especially for cryptoasset transactions.
19. Small strategic changes — like deferring a sale or adjusting a dividend — can save thousands in tax when handled by a crypto-savvy accountant.

FAQS

Q1: Can one accountant manage both PAYE income and crypto trading profits without mixing them up?

A1: Well, it’s worth noting that a good crypto accountant should keep these streams separate in the records while still looking at the overall tax position. For example, I’ve worked with a client who was a senior nurse under PAYE and also traded altcoins on the side. The PAYE records stayed untouched in HMRC’s system, but we made sure the crypto gains were declared via Self Assessment, offsetting losses where possible. Keeping them distinct avoids underpayment surprises when HMRC reconciles the year.

Q2: Is it possible to have different tax codes for employment and for crypto-related business income?

A2: Not quite. HMRC issues one primary tax code for your employment, which takes your personal allowance into account. Any untaxed income from crypto trading or mining is normally handled through Self Assessment, not a separate code. In some cases, HMRC may adjust your code mid-year if they’re recovering an underpayment from earlier years, but that’s different from a dedicated “crypto code.”

Q3: How can someone check if their PAYE tax already covers part of their crypto tax bill?

A3: In my experience, this happens rarely, but it’s not impossible. If HMRC has adjusted your tax code to recover previous underpaid tax on crypto gains, you may already be paying it through PAYE instalments. You can check by comparing your tax code notice with your last Self Assessment calculation—if there’s a “restriction” for untaxed income, part of your crypto bill is being collected at source.

Q4: What happens if someone underpays tax on both their job and crypto profits?

A4: That’s a double whammy, and HMRC will combine the two into one bill. I had a client in Manchester who was on the wrong code for six months and also forgot to declare a big NFT flip. The underpayment was rolled into their next Self Assessment, with interest calculated from the due dates. A crypto accountant can help set up a Time to Pay arrangement if the total is steep.

Q5: Can an accountant help reduce crypto tax by adjusting pension contributions from PAYE income?

A5: Absolutely, and it’s one of the more underused strategies. Say you earn £60,000 from your job and £10,000 in crypto gains—pension contributions can reduce your taxable income, potentially dropping you into a lower CGT band for the crypto profits. The trick is timing the contribution before the tax year ends so it appears in the same year’s calculation.

Q6: Are Scottish taxpayers treated differently when combining PAYE and crypto income?

A6: Yes, and I’ve seen this trip people up. Scottish income tax rates apply only to non-savings, non-dividend income—so your employment is taxed under Scottish rates, but capital gains from crypto follow UK-wide CGT rules. This means a Scottish crypto trader with a day job might face different bands for income than someone in England, but identical CGT rates.

Q7: Does having multiple PAYE jobs change how crypto profits are taxed?

A7: The crypto profits themselves aren’t directly affected, but your income tax position might push you into a higher CGT band. I once advised a software developer with two part-time roles and a busy DeFi trading habit—the extra PAYE wages tipped them into the higher-rate income bracket, meaning part of their crypto gains were taxed at 20% CGT instead of 10%.

Q8: Can a crypto accountant correct HMRC’s miscalculation of combined income?

A8: Yes, and it happens more often than people think. HMRC sometimes misreads PAYE year-end submissions or misses updated trading figures. A crypto accountant can submit an amended return or use the “overpayment relief” process if HMRC’s calculation is wrong—though this must usually be done within four years.

Q9: How do HMRC view crypto mining as part of a business alongside PAYE work?

A9: If it’s regular and organised, HMRC may treat it as trading income, not just hobby activity. So, a PAYE-employed engineer who mines Ethereum at scale might have two taxable incomes: employment and self-employment. A crypto accountant will ensure expenses like electricity and hardware are claimed correctly, while keeping your employment records untouched.

Q10: Can one accountant prepare both a company’s crypto accounts and the director’s personal return?

A10: Yes, and in fact it’s often better. I look after several limited companies involved in blockchain consultancy, and handling both sides means we can align dividend timing, salary levels, and crypto disposals to minimise tax. But the accountant must clearly separate company assets from personal holdings to avoid compliance issues.

Q11: If a business accepts crypto payments, will that affect the owner’s personal tax?

A11: Indirectly, yes. The crypto received is first taxed within the business accounts (as trading income). When the profits are later extracted—say as dividends—those become personal income and could push the owner into a higher tax bracket, which in turn affects how other gains (including personal crypto trades) are taxed.

Q12: Can a crypto accountant help claim losses from a failed business token investment?

A12: Certainly. I had a client whose limited company bought a niche token as part of its treasury strategy. The project collapsed, but we claimed the loss in the business accounts and, because they also held some personally, we made a negligible value claim for the individual holdings too—capturing relief in both areas without double counting.

Q13: What’s the best way to handle record-keeping when one person has both personal and business crypto wallets?

A13: Keep them ring-fenced. In practice, that means separate wallet addresses or sub-accounts, and never mixing business transactions in personal wallets. I once had to untangle a year’s worth of mixed transfers for a café owner in Bristol—it took twice as long and cost them more in fees because we had to trace every transaction back to its source.

Q14: How does a crypto accountant deal with VAT on business crypto transactions?

A14: It depends on the activity. If the crypto is being used as payment for goods or services, the VAT is calculated on the sterling value at the time of the transaction. However, speculative trading in crypto itself is exempt from VAT. The key is to identify which side of the line each transaction falls on.

Q15: Can they help with overseas tax if the crypto business operates across borders?

A15: Yes, though often in collaboration with local advisers. I’ve worked with a London-based NFT marketplace that had users in the US and Singapore. We coordinated with accountants abroad to ensure no double taxation and to apply treaty relief where possible, while keeping the UK obligations accurate.

Q16: What happens if personal and business crypto transactions are accidentally mixed?

A16: This isn’t fatal, but it’s messy. Your accountant will need to reclassify each transaction, and if funds have moved between wallets without clear documentation, it can lead to delays or even HMRC queries. In one case, we prepared a clear reconciliation and a short explanatory note for HMRC, which they accepted without penalty.

Q17: Can crypto accountants advise on HMRC enquiries involving both PAYE and business accounts?

A17: Definitely. In fact, having one adviser for both streams can strengthen your case because they have the full picture. I once handled an enquiry for a designer with PAYE income and a crypto mining side business—because we’d prepared both, we could quickly answer HMRC’s cross-questions without contradictions.

Q18: Do crypto accountants help with planning year-end disposals to optimise both business and personal tax?

A18: Yes, and this is where they can add real value. For example, timing a personal crypto disposal just before a large dividend might avoid pushing the gain into a higher CGT rate. Likewise, realising losses in the business before year-end can offset taxable profits and free up personal allowances.

Q19: Can a crypto accountant help when someone moves from PAYE employment to running a crypto business full-time?

A19: Absolutely—they can plan the transition so that final employment income, any redundancy payments, and the first year’s business profits are all structured efficiently. I once helped a client stagger their crypto sales so their first self-employed year didn’t also coincide with a high PAYE tax bill.

Q20: How can a crypto accountant help prevent HMRC penalties when dealing with both income types?

A20: The main thing is getting the filings right and on time for both areas. Penalties often arise when PAYE income lulls someone into thinking they don’t need to declare crypto gains, or when business accounts omit director’s personal disposals. A crypto accountant makes sure nothing falls through the cracks—saving you money and stress in the long run.