HMRC Builds Billionaire Compliance Map; Crypto Wealth Under Scrutiny

Every billionaire linked to the UK has been assigned a personal compliance manager by His Majesty's Revenue and Customs. The register now covers individuals who do not necessarily submit a British tax return.

The tax authority has not yet disclosed names or a headcount. It indicates that those figures will be published in a wealthy compliance plan coming later this year.

HMRC Could Not Count Its Billionaires, Watchdogs Found

Last year, the National Audit Office discovered that roughly 15,000 wealthy taxpayers had been assigned compliance managers by HMRC. That figure represented approximately 2% of the group, with allocation determined by risk rather than wealth alone.

“HMRC cannot identify how much tax is paid by UK billionaires, despite the relatively small number of individuals and significant sums of money involved,” the cross-party Public Accounts Committee noted in its report.

The list was reconstructed by HMRC using its own records, publicly available data like rich lists, and information provided by other governments. Each compliance manager links one individual to their associated companies, trusts, and other entities.

Crypto Is Not the Focus, But Information Is Gaining

There has been no statement from HMRC on whether any crypto billionaire is included in the list. Once a person crosses the threshold, wealth derived from tokens is treated the same as wealth from property.

Visibility is what changes next. The Cryptoasset Reporting Framework came into force in the UK in January. Under this international standard, trading platforms are required to provide customer records to tax authorities. Those UK crypto reporting rules will begin transmitting exchange data to HMRC in 2027.

HMRC already has some visibility. According to government data, 17,600 individuals declared £1.38 billion in cryptoasset gains for the 2024-25 tax year. Among them, 240 crypto millionaires reported £717 million.

That year, HMRC dispatched approximately 65,000 warning letters to individuals suspected of crypto trading, an increase from 27,700.

The compliance plan, expected by the end of 2026, will be the next time the list's size is disclosed. The exchange data files will become available one year after that.