It is that time of year many a self-employed person dreads, the deadline to submit your tax return and pay anything you owe. But this year there is a question a select few should be asking themselves – have I profited from my investment in crypto-currencies?

If you have, you could be liable for tax.

In 2014 Revenue & Customs published guidelines making clear the different taxes that apply to any earnings from crypto-currencies.

For most people who have bought a few bitcoins some years ago, it is Capital Gains Tax that will be relevant.

This will apply to any profits, once you hit the £11,300 CGT threshold, not just if they are converted into a standard currency but if they are used to buy other crypto-currencies such as Ethereum or to invest in initial coin offerings (ICOs).

But in recent weeks there is some evidence that a few people are making trading in crypto-currencies a full-time job, in which case they are likely to be liable for income tax on their earnings.

Now, the acceleration in the value of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies happened over the course of 2017 so it is unlikely many people will have incurred tax liabilities in 2016-17, the year HMRC is currently examining.

Read more: BBC

Persistent demand around the $10,000 mark appears to have not only neutralized the immediate bearish outlook on bitcoin, but also hints the cryptocurrency could be building a base for an eventual move higher.

Prices on CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) fell to $9,972.29 yesterday, before witnessing a quick recovery to $11,000 levels. This is the fourth time in last week that bitcoin (BTC) has recovered losses after sinking below $10,000 levels. As of writing, bitcoin is at $10,990 levels. The cryptocurrency has appreciated by 3.38 percent in the last 24 hours, according to OnChainFX.

On Coinbase’s GDAX exchange, BTC witnessed two-way business yesterday with prices hitting highs and lows of $$11, 370 and $9,945, respectively, before closing (as per UTC) at $10,824 levels.

The situation looks no different today as the rebound from the intraday low of $10,450 seems to have run out of steam above $11,000 levels. The cryptocurrency was last seen changing hands on GDAX at $10,970 levels.

Read more: Coindesk

Bitcoin miners passed a significant milestone over the weekend, when they mined the 16.8 millionth bitcoin from the cryptocurrency’s planned total of 21 million coins.

This means that 80 percent of all bitcoins that will be in existence have already been mined. According to estimates, bitcoin will reach its final coin figure sometime in 2140. (See also: How Does Bitcoin Mining Work?)

Over the years, bitcoin has adjusted the number of coins in circulation through a complex calibration of miner rewards and problem difficulty. Bitcoins are awarded to miners who solve complex mathematical problems through intensive computation. The reward number is halved every 210,000 blocks, per bitcoin’s original algorithm.

Immediately after bitcoin’s launch, miners earned 50 coins as reward for solving problems. It was cut to 25 in 2012 and 12.5 in 2016. In two years, miners can expect 6.25 bitcoins as rewards. The difficulty of problems has kept pace with rewards. As the number of rewards has decreased, bitcoin’s problem difficulty has increased, thereby making it more difficult and computation intensive to earn the coin.

Read more: Investopedia

A tax loophole which reduces Bitcoin investors’ gains to zero will be exploited by people filling in their returns for this tax year, potentially creating millions in lost revenue for the Government, experts have warned.

HMRC is expecting to see a surge in the number of taxpayers declaring gains from cryptocurrencies this year after many investors sold their holdings after values soared, leaving them with huge profits.

However the taxman’s anticipated windfall could be far less than expected thanks to a loophole which lets taxpayers class their investment in cryptocurrency as “gambling”, winnings from which are tax-free.

An HMRC spokesman said:

“We don’t normally tax betting and gambling because it is usually not classed as trading income…”

Read more: Telegraph