27 August 2026
“HMRC’s latest figures reveal a capital gains tax system generating record revenues, with liabilities reaching £24.2 billion in 2024/25 and taxpayer numbers hitting an all-time high. However, the most important lesson from these figures is not how much tax was collected, but why. HMRC explicitly highlights that speculation ahead of the October 2024 Budget prompted some investors and business owners to bring forward disposals before anticipated changes took effect. This suggests that a fair chunk of the surge simply reflects behaviour changing in response to tax policy discussions rather than a permanent expansion of the tax base.
“As ministers consider options ahead of this year’s Budget, they should study these figures carefully. They are a reminder that taxpayers do not sit still and wait for reforms to happen. If significant tax changes are heavily signalled in advance, people will often act before they take effect, accelerating transactions, restructuring investments or bringing forward financial decisions. While that can create a short-term boost in revenues, it can also simply pull activity forward, leaving a weaker pipeline of future transactions and making tax receipts harder to predict. Importantly, many of these decisions cannot easily be reversed.
“One particularly striking finding is the emergence of cryptoassets as a meaningful source of taxable gains. HMRC reports that 17,600 individuals declared £1.38 billion of cryptoasset gains, with men accounting for 87% of taxpayers reporting gains and 93% of the gains themselves. These figures suggest crypto investing remains heavily concentrated among male investors, but the bigger story is the scale. Crypto is no longer sitting on the fringes of the tax system. Billions of pounds of gains are now being reported to HMRC, meaning crypto taxation is increasingly becoming a mainstream financial planning consideration alongside more traditional investments.”
