Does Luno report to HMRC? (2025/26 UK guide)

TL;DR: There is no public confirmation that Luno routinely reports UK customer data to HMRC. HMRC can, however, request information from crypto exchanges under its statutory powers, and from 1 January 2026 the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework (CARF) requires in-scope crypto providers to report customer data annually, with the first reports due by 31 May 2027. Which of Luno's companies served your account, and where that company has CARF reporting obligations, has not been publicly confirmed. What is certain is the deadline: Luno has published a wind-down timetable for customers in regions it will no longer serve, ending with account closure on 1 September 2026. If Luno has told you your account is closing, the priority is to download your full records and put your tax position right while you still have self-service access.

This guide reflects HMRC, FCA and OECD positions and Luno's published guidance as of 3 August 2026. It is relevant both to the 2025/26 return many readers are preparing now (due by 31 January 2027) and to the 2026/27 tax year in which Luno's wind-down deadlines fall. Some of those deadlines have already passed; where that matters, we say so.

Does Luno share data with HMRC?

We found no public confirmation that Luno has routinely supplied UK customer data to HMRC, and no public record of a blanket customer-data handover. That does not mean HMRC cannot obtain the information through other lawful routes.

HMRC has used Schedule 23 of the Finance Act 2011 to obtain information from cryptoasset service providers, and Schedule 36 of the Finance Act 2008 gives it separate information and inspection powers for checking tax positions, subject to statutory conditions. The best-known crypto example: in October 2020, Coinbase notified UK customers that it was sharing account data with HMRC, covering customers with a UK address who received more than £5,000 of cryptoassets in the 2019/20 tax year. That notice mattered because it settled a question that had floated around crypto forums for years: exchange data does reach HMRC when HMRC asks for it. Fiat deposits and withdrawals may also appear in your own bank records. Those entries form part of the audit trail, although they do not by themselves show every underlying crypto transaction or its tax result.

A firm winding down its service changes none of this. The transactions have already happened, the records exist, and closing the account does not change the tax treatment of anything that has already occurred.

Is Luno closing UK accounts?

Luno has published guidance for customers in regions where it will no longer provide service, with a wind-down timetable ending in account closure on 1 September 2026. Luno says the decision reflects a focus on its core markets across Africa and South East Asia.

One important caveat: Luno's public guidance does not name the affected regions. The UK is absent from Luno's current list of supported countries, which now covers Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia, but the closure notices themselves went to affected customers directly. If you hold a Luno account, check the notice Luno sent you before relying on the dates below.

For affected accounts, Luno's published timetable is:

Two practical tax points follow from that timetable.

Getting your money out can be a taxable event. Luno says the deadline for affected customers to send crypto to another wallet or exchange was 29 June 2026, so for most affected accounts the remaining standard route is to sell and withdraw to your bank by 31 August. Selling crypto for pounds is normally a disposal for capital gains tax, even though the closure forced the timing; whether tax is actually due then depends on the size of the gain, any allowable losses and your available annual exempt amount. If you completed a transfer to your own wallet before 29 June and kept beneficial ownership of the tokens throughout, that transfer would not normally be a disposal (see HMRC's guidance on what counts as a disposal), but keep the transfer records so your Section 104 pool stays accurate.

You need your records before self-service access ends. Download your wallet statements while your account is open. Luno says customers can ask its support team for statements after an account has closed, but obtaining them that way is likely to be slower and less convenient than downloading them yourself now.

What the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework changes from 2026

CARF is the OECD's mechanism for making crypto data flow automatically to tax authorities, in the way that offshore bank account data already does. The UK enacted it as The Cryptoasset Service Providers (Due Diligence and Reporting Requirements) Regulations 2025, effective 1 January 2026, and our explainer on the OECD's CARF release covers the background.

What the UK rules require. In-scope reporting cryptoasset service providers must collect and verify customer details from 1 January 2026 and report annually. Under HMRC's reporting guidance, a UK provider reports its UK-resident users directly to HMRC, as well as users resident in other CARF jurisdictions; where a provider reports in another participating country instead, that country's authority can exchange the data with HMRC under the applicable international arrangements. The first reports cover the 2026 calendar year and are due by 31 May 2027.

What data is collected and reported. Per HMRC's collection guidance, individual users provide their name, date of birth, home address, country of tax residence and, for UK residents, a National Insurance number or Unique Taxpayer Reference. Transaction reporting covers the type of cryptoasset, the transaction type, and the value and number of units, reported as an annual summary rather than a live feed. Users who deliberately or carelessly provide an invalid self-certification can face a penalty of up to £300, and providers face separate penalties for due-diligence and reporting failures.

What is and is not known about Luno. Whether Luno reports activity from affected accounts, and to which tax authority, depends on which Luno company served those accounts and where that company has CARF reporting obligations. Serving UK residents does not by itself establish the reporting nexus. Luno's published CARF help content currently explains tax-detail collection for its South African customers, reporting to SARS, and we found no public Luno statement confirming how accounts affected by the wind-down will be treated. So treat Luno-to-HMRC CARF reporting as unconfirmed rather than established, and remember that HMRC's statutory information powers exist regardless.

Is Luno regulated in the UK?

Luno's own help centre states that it is not regulated in the UK and that cryptoassets are high-risk and largely unregulated. The only Luno entry on the FCA's Financial Services Register is Luno Money Limited (reference 764299), a historical payment-services record whose authorisation is shown as revoked, with effect from January 2019. That entry is not a cryptoasset registration, and no Luno company appears on the FCA register as a registered cryptoasset business. Cryptoassets held with Luno are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Separate UK rules have still applied to how Luno could market to UK customers. When the FCA's cryptoasset financial-promotion rules took effect in October 2023, Luno told UK account holders it had removed refer-a-friend and other promotional rewards along with its automatic Repeat Buy feature, and added a permanent risk warning, an investor assessment and a 24-hour cooling-off period for UK users.

None of this changes your tax position. While Luno was open to you, your gains and income were taxable in the usual way, and they remain reportable to HMRC after the service ends.

How are Luno gains taxed in the UK?

For crypto held on Luno, UK tax works the standard way. Selling crypto for pounds is a disposal for capital gains tax, calculated through HMRC's share-pooling rules (same-day, then 30-day, then the Section 104 pool), which our comprehensive UK crypto tax guide sets out in full.

Rewards, "interest" and similar credits may be taxable as income at their sterling value when received, but the treatment depends on what the payment was for and the terms of the arrangement. Staking, lending, referral and promotional rewards can each need separate analysis, so keep the records and check the treatment rather than assuming a single rule.

Moving tokens between wallets you beneficially own is not normally a disposal, and it does not give particular coins their own individual cost basis either. For pooled tokens you maintain a pooled quantity and a pooled allowable cost, so keep transfer records to hold the pool accurate.

To put numbers on the forced-sale point: say you hold Bitcoin on Luno and the allowable pooled cost of the coins you sell is £3,000. You sell for £8,000 to get your money out before closure and withdraw to your bank. Assuming you have no other gains or allowable losses in the year and your full £3,000 annual exempt amount is available, the £5,000 gain leaves £2,000 chargeable, and the tax due then depends on your Capital Gains Tax rate. An accurate figure for a real portfolio needs your full acquisition and disposal history, because pooling looks across everything you have bought and sold. Our free crypto tax calculator can give a first estimate for a simple, single disposal.

Why has HMRC been sending nudge letters about crypto?

Where the data HMRC holds does not match a person's return, a nudge letter is often the first thing to arrive. It is not a formal investigation. It is a prompt to revisit your tax affairs and correct anything missing, and it typically says HMRC holds information suggesting undeclared crypto.

The volumes have grown quickly. Figures released by accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young on 6 November 2025, obtained through a freedom-of-information request, show HMRC sent 64,982 crypto nudge letters in 2024/25 against 27,713 the year before, roughly a 134% increase. Data matching drives these campaigns, and the available data could expand further after providers submit their first CARF reports in 2027 and information is exchanged under the relevant international arrangements. A nudge letter is far easier to answer while you can still download your Luno records than after your account has closed. Our guide on what to do if you receive an HMRC nudge letter about your crypto walks through the options.

Can HMRC see my Luno transactions?

Not by opening your account, and not live. HMRC can build a picture from information obtained under its statutory powers, from relevant entries in your bank records and, from 2027, from CARF reports submitted or exchanged under the applicable arrangements, all set against your return. None of those sources necessarily shows a complete or already tax-calculated transaction history, so keeping your own records matters. A provider leaving the market does not alter the transactions that already took place.

What should I do if I have undeclared Luno gains?

If you have used Luno and not declared gains or income, the wind-down deadline is a good reason to act now rather than later, and you need your data before self-service access ends.

• 1. Get your records first. Before your account closes, download your full wallet statements so you hold your own history of buys, sells, rewards or credits, deposits and withdrawals. If your Luno API access is still available, you may also be able to connect the account to tax software before closure, but do not rely on the connection instead of keeping the statements yourself. This is the step that gets harder after closure.
• 2. Work out what you owe. Apply HMRC's share-pooling rules to your disposals, including sales made to withdraw during the wind-down, and check the treatment of any rewards or credits as income.
• 3. Tell HMRC and pay. The correction route depends on the tax year and whether you filed a return. A Self Assessment return can usually be amended for 12 months after its filing deadline, so a 2024/25 return can usually be amended until 31 January 2027. HMRC says current- or previous-year income and gains should go through Self Assessment; for other unpaid cryptoasset tax, its cryptoasset disclosure service has been open since November 2023. Interest may apply, and any penalty depends on the circumstances, though HMRC says penalties are usually lower when you come forward yourself. If your history is complicated, you can find a Recap-verified UK crypto tax specialist on our directory.

How Recap helps with Luno tax

Start by downloading your Luno wallet statements so you retain your own records whatever happens to the account. Then let Recap do the tax work: Recap classifies and values supported Luno transactions and works out your gains and income under HMRC's rules, so you end up with a clear UK tax report. If your Luno read-only API access is still available, you can try the documented Luno connection; check the imported transactions against your statements before relying on the tax report.

Sign up and capture your Luno history as one clear set of UK gains and income figures, saved in a report you can use to complete your return or hand to your accountant, before self-service access ends.

References

• HMRC: Reporting cryptoasset user and transaction data (CARF reporting guidance)
• HMRC: Collecting cryptoasset user and transaction data (CARF collection guidance)
• The Cryptoasset Service Providers (Due Diligence and Reporting Requirements) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/744)
• Schedule 23, Finance Act 2011
• Schedule 36, Finance Act 2008
• HMRC CRYPTO22100: what counts as a disposal
• HMRC CRYPTO22200: pooling
• HMRC: Tell HMRC about unpaid tax on cryptoassets (disclosure service)
• UHY Hacker Young: crypto nudge-letter figures, FOI-based release, 6 November 2025
• Luno: Guidance for customers in regions where Luno will no longer provide service
• Luno: Which countries can I use my Luno account in?
• Luno: Is Luno regulated?
• Luno: Notice to Luno account holders in the UK (June 2024)
• Luno: Why does Luno need my tax details? (CARF, South Africa)
• FCA register: Luno Money Limited (FRN 764299)
• FCA: cryptoasset financial-promotion rules (October 2023)