Surprisingly, the UK government is imposing substantial taxes on the estates of deceased crypto traders, adding a financial burden to grieving families.
In the UK, the government doesn’t tax the first £325,000 (about $409,000) of their fund when someone passes away. But if their total belongings are worth more than that, the government takes whooping 40% of the extra amount.
The latest report in the community suggests that nearly $30.2 million in cryptocurrency becomes irrecoverable after their owner dies without sharing the details of the wallet’s private key.
The private key is a password to recover a crypto wallet.
Despite this, families of these dead crypto traders still have to pay potentially substantial tax bills.
“Unlike a traditional asset, passing crypto on in your will is virtually impossible,” said Paul Rossini, the founder of Assetpass. “It’s one thing buying the crypto … but it’s not very easy to go and retrieve those assets back from that platform.”
Christopher Thorpe, a technical officer from the UK’s Chartered Institute of Tax, also criticized the government, saying that HM Revenue & Customs is “simply not equipped” for cryptocurrency.
Also Read: South Korean City Takes Action Against Crypto Tax-Evas
