Most part-time and occasional traders are taxed under capital gains tax rules. For the 2026/27 tax year, you can earn up to £3,000 in gains before capital gains tax applies, and any profit above that is taxed at 18% for basic rate taxpayers or 24% for higher and additional rate taxpayers. Day trading profits are almost always treated as trading income rather than capital gains once HMRC sees how often you trade.

If HMRC treats your trading as a business, your profits fall under income tax instead. You will pay income tax and Class 4 National Insurance on your trading profits, in the same way any other self-employed trader pays tax on their earnings. If you also receive dividends from other investments, we factor those into your tax return too, and this structuring can benefit traders who plan ahead rather than reacting each January. Our accountants provide professional advice on which category you fall into, and we back that up in writing so you have something to show HMRC if they ever ask. Many accountants get this classification wrong, and it costs their clients money. This kind of planning is what real tax efficiency means for a trader, not just picking a lower rate.

Spread Betting, Forex And CFDs Are Not Taxed The Same Way

Spread betting is generally free from capital gains tax and income tax for traders in the UK, because HMRC treats it as gambling rather than trading. CFD trading and standard forex trading are different, and any gains are usually taxable under capital gains tax or income tax depending on how your activity is classified. CFDs let you speculate on price movements without owning the underlying assets outright.

Mixing spread betting with CFD trading or forex trading in one account makes your tax position more complicated, not simpler. Our accountants separate each activity out and apply the correct tax treatment to each one, so nothing gets missed or double counted on your trader tax return.

If you trade as a sole trader, your annual self assessment tax return is the main way you report your trading profits to HMRC. Our sole trader tax returns service covers everything from straightforward accounts through to traders juggling multiple platforms and currencies, and it comes with proper personal taxation advice, not just a filled-in form.

Making Tax Digital is changing how this works for sole traders. From April 2026, anyone with qualifying income over £50,000 must keep digital records using approved software and send quarterly updates to HMRC rather than one return a year. That threshold drops to £30,000 from April 2027, and £20,000 from April 2028, so most active sole traders will eventually be inside the system.

HMRC says it will start signing up eligible taxpayers for the 2026/27 tax year from September 2026. If quarterly reporting applies to you, our accountants manage this process for all our clients and handle the tax filings as part of your ongoing service, not as an extra bill every three months. Our accountants keep your sole trader tax returns filed early, not at the last minute.

Our accountants start by reviewing your broker statements and getting a full picture of your trading activity for the year. From there, we confirm your tax position, prepare your tax return or quarterly submissions, and file everything with HMRC on your behalf, keeping your business finances organised throughout the year.

Reconciling broker statements by hand is time-consuming, particularly for anyone trading forex or running high volumes through several trading platforms. Our accountants handle that reconciliation for you, so nothing gets lost between your broker and your tax return, and your financial affairs stay organised year-round rather than becoming a scramble every January. We also help you set aside funds for your tax bill throughout the year, and planning ahead like this often creates real savings compared with scrambling at the deadline.

Once you are a client, you get a dedicated point of contact rather than a call centre queue. We aim to reply to UK traders on the same day wherever possible, especially during tax season when questions tend to pile up. If you take on staff as your trading grows, we can also run your payroll.

Our experienced team includes chartered accountants who understand trading, not just tax law in general, and you get direct access to those chartered accountants rather than a junior team member. We know the difference between a day trader working in shares and a forex trader running a multi-currency account, and we support sole traders and limited companies alike. Most accountants treat trading income like any other self-employment, and ours don't. You will always deal with real accountants, not a script. As an experienced accountancy firm, we provide specialist support tailored to traders.

Our accounting services, our tax planning services and our support services are all built around traders, and we are active across the wider financial services industry, not just trading. We understand day trading, forex trading and longer-term investing, and we tax each one correctly, staying current as HMRC's rules change, including the rollout of Making Tax Digital, so you are never caught off guard by a new filing requirement.

Our accountants assist traders with everything from their first tax return to complex multi-platform portfolios, and every client gets clear, honest, professional advice on their tax position and their trading business, with no jargon and no guesswork. Our onboarding process is quick, usually a short call and a look at your last return, and we keep client numbers manageable so existing clients always get a fast, personal response. That is what makes us accountants for traders first, and general accountants second.