Crypto Taxes in Australia

The short version

• For most people who hold crypto as an investment, the ATO treats it as an asset that’s subject to capital gains tax (CGT), not as money.
• Selling isn’t the only thing that counts. Swapping one crypto for another, spending it or giving it away can also produce a capital gain or loss, even when no Australian dollars change hands.
• Some crypto you receive, such as staking rewards, is income when you receive it.
• Keep your own records of every transaction, with Australian-dollar values, from your first purchase.
• From 1 July 2027, for gains that build up from that date, the 50% CGT discount is replaced by inflation indexing and a 30% minimum tax, subject to conditions and exemptions. Gains up to then keep the current rules.

Who this guide is for

This guide is for individuals who are Australian residents for tax purposes, aren’t temporary residents, and hold crypto as a personal investment.

Different rules apply if you trade crypto as a business, are a foreign or temporary resident, or hold crypto through a company, trust or self-managed super fund. This guide doesn’t cover those situations. Start with the ATO’s crypto asset investments guidance, or speak with a registered tax agent.

How the ATO treats crypto

The ATO says that, for tax purposes, crypto assets are not a form of money. There are no special tax rules for crypto. The usual rules for assets apply, depending on how you acquire, hold and dispose of it.

For investors, crypto is generally a CGT asset. Each crypto asset you hold is treated as a separate asset, so you work out gains and losses for each one.

When a capital gain or loss can happen

A CGT event happens when you dispose of crypto. The ATO says that includes when you:

• sell it;
• swap or trade it for another crypto asset;
• convert it to Australian dollars or another currency;
• use it to buy goods or services;
• give it away.

Each of these can produce a capital gain or a capital loss. You still have a CGT obligation if you use the proceeds to buy more crypto, or never convert to Australian dollars.

Swaps. When you swap one crypto asset for another, your capital proceeds are the market value, in Australian dollars, of the crypto you receive at the time of the swap. If that value can’t be worked out, the ATO says to use the market value of the crypto you gave up.

DeFi and wrapped tokens. Decentralised finance (DeFi) arrangements, including lending, liquidity pools and wrapping tokens, can trigger CGT events. How they’re treated depends on how the particular arrangement works. These are beyond this guide. The ATO’s DeFi and wrapping page explains them.

When receiving crypto is income

Some crypto counts as income when you receive it. You include its value in Australian dollars, at the time you receive it, in your tax return.

• Staking rewards. The money value of tokens you receive as staking rewards is ordinary income at the time you receive them. The same applies to similar rewards for helping to run a network. The ATO says to declare them as “Other income”.
• Crypto for work or services. Crypto you receive from your employer, or from someone else in connection with your work or services, is assessable income.

Crypto you receive as income still counts for CGT afterwards. Its cost base is its market value when you received it, so when you later sell, swap or spend it, you work out a capital gain or loss in the usual way.

Airdrops: the ATO’s view has changed, and isn’t final

An airdrop is when tokens are distributed to your wallet for free, often to promote a project. This section covers that kind of airdrop, received by an individual investor. Other arrangements can be treated differently. Examples include tokens you receive for goods or services (which are income), tokens received by a crypto trading business, and rewards for providing liquidity to a decentralised exchange.

If you’re not running a crypto trading business, and you didn’t receive the tokens for goods or services or as part of another income-producing activity, the ATO’s current guidance (updated in August 2026) is that you don’t include their value in your income when they arrive. Instead, they’re a separate CGT asset. Their cost base is generally their market value when you received them, or nil if they had no or negligible value then. CGT can apply when you later dispose of them.

That guidance follows a draft ruling, TR 2026/D1, which remains a draft and may change before it’s finalised. Other ATO material, published earlier in 2026, says airdropped tokens are income when you receive them. Check the ATO’s staking rewards and airdrops page for its current position, and get advice if airdrops matter for your tax return.

Working out a gain or loss

You make a capital gain when your capital proceeds are more than your cost base. If you dispose of crypto for less than it cost you, you may have a capital loss.

• Cost base: what you paid for the crypto, plus transaction fees you paid in Australian dollars, such as brokerage.
• Australian dollars: record every value in Australian dollars, at its market value at the time of the transaction.
• Capital losses: a capital loss reduces your capital gains in the same year or in later years. You can’t deduct a net capital loss from your other income, such as your salary. Report losses in your tax return so they’re available to use against future gains.

The CGT discount, and what changes from 1 July 2027

A law passed in June 2026, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026, changes how individuals’ capital gains are taxed from 1 July 2027. The ATO says the changes only apply to gains that accrue after 1 July 2027. The ATO’s crypto guidance pages don’t mention the change yet, so they still describe the CGT discount without it.

The rule now

If a CGT event happens on or before 30 June 2027, and you’ve held the crypto for at least 12 months, you may be able to reduce your capital gain using the 50% CGT discount.

What’s changing (already law)

Crypto you hold through 30 June 2027. The law treats you as selling it on 30 June 2027 and buying it back on 1 July 2027. By default, the price for both is its market value just before 1 July 2027.

This doesn’t create a tax bill on that date. The gain or loss up to 30 June 2027 is set aside until a later CGT event happens to that crypto, such as selling it, swapping it, spending it or giving it away. In the income year that event happens, the earlier gain or loss is counted, along with any gain or loss from 1 July 2027 onwards.

The part of the gain from before 1 July 2027 can still get the 50% discount if it qualifies. The 12 months is measured up to that later CGT event, not to 30 June 2027.

Gains from 1 July 2027. The 50% discount doesn’t apply to the part of a gain that builds up from 1 July 2027. Instead, if you’ve held the crypto for at least 12 months, counting from when you first acquired it, its cost base is indexed for inflation using the consumer price index. The same applies to crypto you buy on or after 1 July 2027.

A 30% minimum tax on capital gains. This is a minimum, not a flat rate on every gain. It applies to qualifying capital gains from CGT events from 1 July 2027, and it’s worked out before tax offsets. Broadly, if the tax on those gains would otherwise come to less than 30% of them, extra tax makes up the difference. The gains it applies to are worked out after certain adjustments, some gains are excluded, and people who receive certain government payments during the year, such as the Age Pension or JobSeeker Payment, are exempt.

Not law yet

As at 14 October 2026:

• A second bill with further detail, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 3) Bill 2026, was introduced to Parliament on 14 October 2026. It hasn’t been passed and may change. Among other things, it covers how the changes apply to people who are Australian residents for only part of the time they own an asset.
• Instead of using market value, the law allows an “apportioning method” set by the Minister. Only a draft exists. The draft is limited to real property and assets that don’t have a readily ascertainable market value, and doesn’t mention crypto.

How the change affects you depends on your circumstances. If you hold crypto with a large gain, a registered tax agent can explain how it applies to you.

Crypto you use for personal purchases

Most people hold crypto as an investment, but a capital gain can be exempt if the crypto is a personal use asset. The ATO’s example is buying crypto and using it the same day to pay for concert tickets.

Lost, stolen, or stuck on a failed platform

Lost or stolen crypto. The ATO says you can claim a capital loss for lost or stolen crypto only if you can provide evidence of ownership. You also need to work out that:

• the crypto is actually lost. If you can recover it, for example by extracting data from a hard drive, it isn’t lost;
• you’ve lost access to it;
• you have evidence that you owned it, such as the wallet address, the public key, what it cost you, and records that link the wallet or account to you.

The loss is available if you can’t replace the crypto. Any compensation or insurance you receive reduces the loss.

Losing one copy of a private key doesn’t necessarily mean your crypto is lost. If you still have your seed phrase (also called a recovery phrase) or another usable backup, you may be able to restore access to the wallet. Understanding Private Keys & Seed Phrases explains how they work.

A crypto platform that fails. If a platform holding your crypto goes into external administration, such as liquidation, a CGT event generally happens when the administration is finalised. That’s when you work out whether you have a capital loss or gain.

Scams. The ATO’s pages on lost and stolen crypto don’t set out how scam losses are treated. If you’ve lost crypto to a scam, ask a registered tax agent about the tax side. For what to do first, see Scamwatch’s guide, What to do if you’ve been scammed.

Records and reporting

The ATO says you must keep records of each crypto asset and every transaction so you can work out whether you’ve made a capital gain or loss, and that relying on a platform to keep your records isn’t enough. Records to keep include:

• the date of each transaction, what it was for and who the other party was (a crypto address is enough);
• the value in Australian dollars at the time;
• receipts and platform records when you buy, transfer or dispose of crypto;
• fees, and agent, accountant and legal costs;
• the date and quantity of any staking rewards or airdrops.

The ATO suggests exporting your transaction history regularly, with a reminder at least every three months, and exporting your complete history before you close an account. It also suggests finding a reputable Australian crypto tax calculator, and notes that free and low-cost services exist. Software can help organise your records, but you’re still responsible for what you report.

If your software’s balances don’t match your platform’s, see what to check when crypto tax software doesn’t match your exchange.

How long to keep them. In practice, keep them for as long as you hold the crypto and for at least five years after you dispose of it. If you carry a capital loss forward, keep the records for that loss for longer. The ATO’s view is that you should keep them at least until the review period ends for the year in which the loss is fully used.

Data matching. The ATO matches what people report in their tax returns with data on crypto transactions and accounts that it receives from crypto service providers.

Reporting. Capital gains and losses go in the capital gains section of your tax return (“Capital gains or losses” in myTax). Staking rewards go under “Other income”.

When to get help

A registered tax agent can help if, for example:

• you have many transactions across platforms and wallets;
• you’ve used DeFi, lending, liquidity pools or wrapped tokens;
• you’ve received airdrops;
• your crypto activity might look like a business;
• you’re moving to or from Australia;
• you’ve lost crypto through theft, a scam or a failed platform;
• you hold crypto with a large gain and want to understand the 1 July 2027 change.

Related reading

• What Is Cryptocurrency?
• What Is a Crypto Wallet?
• Understanding Private Keys & Seed Phrases
• How to Buy Crypto Safely in Australia

Sources

Checked 14 October 2026.

• Australian Taxation Office, What are crypto assets?
• Australian Taxation Office, How to work out and report CGT on crypto
• Australian Taxation Office, Crypto asset transactions
• Australian Taxation Office, Crypto to crypto exchange or swap
• Australian Taxation Office, Staking rewards and airdrops
• Australian Taxation Office, Crypto asset payments relating to employment or services
• Australian Taxation Office, Crypto asset transactions and tax residency
• Australian Taxation Office, Crypto asset as a personal use asset
• Australian Taxation Office, Loss or theft of crypto assets
• Australian Taxation Office, Crypto exchanges and platforms under administration
• Australian Taxation Office, Decentralised finance and wrapping crypto
• Australian Taxation Office, Keeping crypto records
• Australian Taxation Office, Tax and crypto asset investments (Tax Time toolkit)
• Australian Taxation Office, Clarity on crypto reporting
• Australian Taxation Office, Tax reform: reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax
• ATO legal database, Draft Taxation Ruling TR 2026/D1 (airdrops; draft)
• ATO legal database, Draft Taxation Determination TD 2026/D2 (wrapping; draft)
• ATO legal database, Taxation Determination TD 2007/2 (keeping records of losses)
• Federal Register of Legislation, Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026
• Parliament of Australia, Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 3) Bill 2026 (introduced 14 October 2026)
• Treasury, Capital Gains Tax and Negative Gearing – Tranche 2 Legislation (consultation, closed 21 August 2026)
• ethereum.org, Ethereum wallets (seed-phrase recovery)