Crypto Tax Rules Tighten as OECD CARF Goes Live in 2026

As January 1, 2026, approaches, crypto markets are preparing for one of the most significant regulatory shifts to date. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is rolling out its Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, known as CARF, across 48 jurisdictions.

Countries that fall under these include the United Kingdom, the European Union, and other major financial hubs.

The new measure will force crypto platforms to collect and share user information with tax authorities, putting an end to the notion that crypto transactions are not part of the global tax regime.

In the CARF, exchanges will require tax residency information, account balances, and transaction information from the users.

This information will then be submitted to the tax agencies, which will then pass the information on to other countries using existing international exchange agreements. 

Some countries will begin gathering information from the first day of the year 2026, so users will experience the impact shortly.

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CARF Marks a Turning Point for Crypto Asset Regulation

According to Lucy Frew, who directs the Regulatory and Risk Advisory Group at the worldwide law firm Walkers, the change is a huge one. 

The reason is that this change will bring a tremendous turning point in the manner in which digital asset-related businesses will begin to function in the near future.

As she describes, this change will allow more regulated onboarding, regular reviews of accounts, and far less likelihood of users being able to believe that their offshore accounts are hidden from the taxation authority.

For exchanges, CARF is not only an update to implement with speed. Exchanges are required to integrate new obligations to report into their existing systems for Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering compliance.

This includes designing onboarding processes to obtain tax-residency and self-certification information and building systems to generate reports capable of producing machine-readable files on a standardized form. 

Firms are also likely to require new processes and structures to support staff on CARF and non-CARF geographies.

UK-Regulated Exchanges Face New Compliance Demands

The platforms mainly involved in this development are those that are licensed in the UK. CoinJar, a company regulated in the UK, has even announced that users will soon be required to give more data about their tax residencies.

Asher Tan, the CEO and co-founder of this company, has emphasized how difficult it is to comply with regulations while making the platform user-friendly.

Exchanges that balance the two factors well will possibly find themselves in a better position, as traders increasingly turn to those platforms as this financial product integrates into the financial system.

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