Kraken UK Tax Report: Get Your HMRC Crypto Summary for 2025/26

Kraken offers some of the most detailed transaction exports of any exchange, which is good news for UK taxpayers but can be overwhelming if you do not know which files you need. This guide shows exactly what to download from Kraken to complete your HMRC Self Assessment for the 2025/26 tax year.

Ledgers vs trades — why you need both

Kraken splits exports into two logs. The "trades" export lists matched buy and sell executions. The "ledgers" export lists every account movement — deposits, withdrawals, fees, staking rewards, and the individual legs of each trade. For HMRC, you need ledgers because they capture staking and rewards income, which the trades file misses entirely. If you only use the trades file you will under-report income.

How to export ledgers

Log in to Kraken on a desktop browser. Go to History then Export. Set "Type" to Ledgers. Set the date range to 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026. Leave all asset types selected. Click Submit. Kraken emails you a download link, typically within a few minutes. The CSV includes every credit and debit in your account, along with timestamps, transaction types, and fees.

The key transaction types

In the Kraken ledger, "deposit" and "withdrawal" are not taxable events on their own — they are movements in and out of the platform. "Trade" entries are the two legs of an executed order; match them by refid to reconstruct the full trade. "Staking" entries are rewards received from Kraken's staking service and are income at GBP value on receipt. "Transfer" entries are often internal movements — Spot, Earn, Futures wallets — and are not disposals for tax purposes.

Staking and Earn — income, not CGT

If you used Kraken Staking or Earn during 2025/26 and received rewards, those are taxable as income at the GBP market value on the day the reward credited your account. They are not capital gains until you later dispose of the tokens. The cost basis of the staked tokens is the GBP value at the moment you received them, which becomes your acquisition price for future Section 104 pooling.

GBP conversions for non-GBP trades

Kraken supports many fiat pairs. If you traded in USD, EUR, or another non-GBP currency, you must convert every transaction to GBP at the historical spot rate on the date of the trade. HMRC accepts any reasonable conversion methodology as long as you apply it consistently. CryptoLens handles this conversion automatically using end-of-day reference rates.

Applying UK pooling rules

Once you have the Kraken ledger CSV, you apply Section 104 pooling per token, same-day matching, and the 30-day bed-and-breakfasting rule in that order. This is where manual spreadsheets fall apart — even a few hundred transactions become unmanageable. CryptoLens applies all three rules automatically when you upload your Kraken export, producing a full SA108-ready tax summary with a complete audit trail.