Ben Symons
Ben Symons is a London based tax barrister with The 36 Group. He has over 20 years of experience in taxation / international tax. He has a great passion for all things related to taxation and cryptocurrency. He has published a book through Bloomsbury Professional entitled Tax Insight: Cryptocurrency and Blockchain. It is the most authoritative work on the UK tax treatment of cryptocurrency. He is a frequent speaker at London City law firms and conferences on the taxation of cryptocurrency. Ben recently spoke at the International Fiscal Association 2023 USA Branch Annual Conference in Chicago on the taxation of cryptocurrency. Ben also has a keen interest in all things related to cryptocurrency but also taxation including tax treaties and transfer pricing.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 2011
Membership
- Revenue Bar Association
- UK branch, International Fiscal Association
Qualifications
- LLM (2005)
- B Com / LLB (2000)
Education
- University of Sydney (2005)
- UNSW (2000)
1 Contributions by Ben Symons
PRACTICE NOTES
UK Cryptoassets Tax: Income Tax, CGT, Corporation Tax, VAT, Stamp Duties and Employment; Situs and NFTs; FA 2025 Residence-based IHT and DeFi Lending/Staking Proposals
STOP PRESS: Abolition of non-dom regime and introduction of residence-based IHT regime
The Finance Act 2025 (FA 2025), granted Royal Assent on 20 March 2025, enacts the removal of the remittance basis and introduces a residence-based system from 6 April 2025. This shift takes effect from 6 April 2025, fully supplanting the prior remittance basis entirely. FA 2025 also substitutes domicile as the principal determinant of liability to inheritance tax. Additional reforms include revising the rules for excluded property status, ending the protected settlements status for offshore trusts, and updating overseas workday relief. For further information on these measures, see: Practice Notes: The abolition of the remittance basis of taxation from 2025–26 and A new residence-based regime for IHT from 2025–26.
FORTHCOMING CHANGE :
On 27 April 2023, the former Conservative government launched a consultation (closing 22 June 2023) on altering the tax treatment of decentralised finance (DeFi) cryptoasset lending and staking transactions. The consultation sought views on implementing a proposal to disregard, for capital gains tax purposes, disposals of beneficial ownership arising in certain cryptoasset lending and staking transactions. Instead, a charge would crystallise when the cryptoassets are economically disposed of (eg on an outright sale). The intention of...
Tax
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