Crypto tax in Australia (2025 update)

If you've sold any crypto in the last 12 months you may need to pay capital gains tax, though you could be eligible for a discount.

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Key takeaways

  • Crypto is taxed as property, meaning capital gains tax is applied when you sell, trade, or spend it.
  • Income from staking, airdrops, or interest must be reported as taxable income.
  • The ATO monitors crypto activity, so keep detailed records to stay compliant.

If you've bought or sold cryptocurrency in the 2024/25 financial year, you may need to pay taxes, though how this is carried out depends on your individual situation.

Despite its name, cryptocurrency is treated as an asset (or property) by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), rather than a type of currency. This means it's typically taxed in the same way as shares or real estate.

In this guide we look at the basics of cryptocurrency tax in Australia to help you learn what you need to do to keep the ATO happy.

Take heed. While the ATO's guidance on cryptocurrency has remained consistent for some time, it's still an evolving space, and rules and laws may change.

The information in this guide is only general in nature and no substitute for professional advice. Consider your own situation and circumstances before relying on the information laid out here.

Do you have to pay tax on cryptocurrency in Australia?

In most cases, the answer is yes. You'll need to pay tax on any profits and earnings you've made from your crypto.

The main tax you you'll pay is capital gains tax (CGT) on any profits made when selling cryptocurrency. This is very similar to how stocks are treated for tax purposes.

You only pay capital gains tax once you sell your crypto and a profit has been made. However it's not just from cashing in those profits. A tax event can be triggered by selling your crypto for cash, trading for another crypto or in exchange for another good or service.

Capital gains tax discount

The good news is that if you have held the same asset for over 12 months without trading it for another, then you only pay tax on 50% of your profit.

You'll also need to pay tax on any interest or rewards you're earning from cryptocurrencies, like staking, airdrops or other interest-earning products. Typically you'll declare this as part of your income tax, rather than capital gains tax.

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Expert insight

"If you don't report your crypto gains or losses, you are at significant risk of being audited. The ATO has both an excellent data matching program and immense amounts of data on cryptocurrency activities. They receive data from most exchanges and could use 3rd party tools to link a public key to you."

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Harrison Dell
Tax Lawyer & Advisor, CryptoTaxCalculator.io

How are crypto traders vs investors taxed?

Your tax responsibilities depend on whether the ATO classifies you as a crypto investor or trader.

Most people who buy and sell crypto occasionally fall into the investor category. This means you'll be taxed under capital gains tax (CGT) rules.

But if you buy and sell large quantities of crypto in a business-like manner, the ATO may deem you to be carrying on a crypto trading business. If that's the case, your earnings are classified as business income and subject to income tax.

Read more: Share Investing vs Share Trading (ATO rules)

Let's take a look at how each is handled.

 Danny Talwar's headshot
Expert insight

"It is important to keep proper records of all your crypto-related transactions – the ATO allows the use of software to help meet record-keeping obligations."

 Danny Talwar's headshot
Danny Talwar
Head of Tax, Koinly

How to calculate your crypto capital gains

You only pay CGT on any capital gains you've made from selling your crypto.

Capital gains can be calculated by subtracting the amount you paid for a cryptocurrency (cost base) from the amount you sold it for (capital proceeds). The resulting figure forms part of your assessable income and needs to be declared on your tax return.

Cost base and capital proceeds explained

Cost base. This includes your purchase price and any costs associated with the purchase, such as trading fees or transfer fees.
Capital proceeds. This is your sale price, minus any costs (like trading fees)

Capital gain/loss = capital proceeds - cost base

Michelle calculates her capital gains

Michelle bought $1,000 of Bitcoin as an investment and paid a $20 trading fee (a cost base of $1,020). A few months later, she sold her Bitcoin for $1,500, paying another trade fee of $20. This left her with a capital gain of $460 (capital gain = $500 - $40). The ATO classifies this $460 profit as a CGT event, so Michelle must include this capital gain amount as part of her assessable income on her tax return.

What's your CGT rate?

Capital gains tax isn't charged as a separate rate to income tax. Instead, any capital gains you make from crypto assets are taxed at the same rate as your income for the financial year.

So the amount of tax you pay on cryptocurrency in Australia depends on your individual income tax rate. Use the table below to determine the rate at which you'll be taxed.

Of course, don't forget that a 50% CGT discount applies to investments that you've held for at least a year.

Also read: You can estimate your crypto tax using our free crypto tax calculator.

2024-25 Income tax rates for Australian residents

Taxable incomeTax you will pay on this income
$0 - $18,200Nil
$18,201 - $45,00016 cents for each $1 over $18,200
$45,001–$135,000$4,288 plus 30c for each $1 over $45,000
$135,001 – $190,000$31,288 plus 37c for each $1 over $135,000
$190,001 and over$51,638 plus 45c for each $1 over $190,000

The tricky part with crypto is you'll need to find out the value of the cryptocurrency in Australian dollars at the time of the transaction.

There are some services available to help simplify the record-keeping process. For example, Koinly and Crypto Tax Calculator are just some of the providers that offer accounting tools for crypto investors and traders that can be linked to your crypto exchange accounts to help you calculate capital gains. The ATO also offers a useful CGT record-keeping tool.

Learn more about crypto CGT from the team at Koinly

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Tax implications of common crypto activities

Any action that you take with crypto could result in a tax event. Here's a breakdown of the tax implications for different crypto activities under the ATO rules, including whether it's a Capital Gains Tax or ordinary income.

Exchanging one cryptocurrency for another

  • Tax treatment: Capital gains tax

Every time you trade one crypto for another, you're triggering a CGT event.

With this in mind, you'll need to keep records of all your crypto trades so you can calculate any capital gains or losses and include them on your tax return.

In cases where it's not possible to calculate the value of the cryptocurrency you received, the capital gain can be worked out by using the market value of the cryptocurrency you disposed of when the transaction occurred.

Spending crypto (e.g. using it to buy goods or services)

  • Tax treatment: Capital gains tax (or exempt)

When you purchase a good or service using crypto, in many cases it's treated as a capital gains tax event, the same as if you sell your crypto.

However, you may be exempt from paying CGT if you're purchasing an item or service directly for your personal use under the ATO's personal use asset exemption.

But there are strict conditions. The cost of the crypto must be less that $10,000, you must have only held the crypto for a short period for the purposes of buying said good or service and it must be a direct transaction, i.e. no transferring into another crypto or cash (including credit card) before making the purchase.

Staking and DeFi interest

  • Tax treatment: Ordinary income

Crypto rewards from staking, proof of authority and proof of credit mechanisms, will be taxed as ordinary income. The same rule applies to interest earned through decentralised finance (DeFi) investments, so make sure to declare the value of any crypto interest you earn as assessable income.

These tokens must be valued in AUD at the time they were received.

Airdrops

  • Tax treatment: Ordinary income

The ATO classifies airdropped coins or tokens as ordinary income based on their fair market value at the time of the receipt.

If you later sell them for Australian dollars or another cryptocurrency, this will be treated as a CGT event.

NFTs

  • Tax treatment: Usually CGT

The ATO's treatment of NFTs is the same as its treatment of cryptocurrencies.

In most instances, profits from NFT sales will be taxed as a capital gain. However, if you're creating and selling NFTs as part of a business, it's taxed as ordinary income.

For regular investors, a CGT event occurs if you sell the NFT, exchange it for another NFT, or gift it to someone.

If you hold the NFT for at least 12 months before disposing of it, you may be eligible for a 50% CGT discount. And just like cryptocurrency, an NFT can potentially be classed as a personal use asset.

Chain splits and hard forks

  • Tax treatment: It depends

Hard forks such as the Bitcoin Cash hard fork in August 2017, when Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was distributed to Bitcoin holders on a 1:1 ratio, present a special situation. You will need to identify the original chain and the new fork to properly calculate your tax obligations.

According to the ATO, if you're holding a digital currency as an investment and you receive a new crypto due to a chain split, you will not be considered to have made a capital gain or earned any regular income. But if you decide to keep the new cryptocurrency as an investment, a CGT event will occur whenever you dispose of it.

Crypto-to-fiat debit card payments

  • Tax treatment: Capital gains tax

The ATO treats crypto-to-fiat debit cards the same way it treats other cryptocurrency transactions. When you convert crypto into Australian dollars to make a purchase, that's considered a CGT event.

In some cases, the personal use asset exemption may apply. But with the ATO stipulating that the longer you hold crypto, the less likely it is to be classified as a personal use asset, this exemption may only apply in rare circumstances.

Also remember that if your crypto debit card offers a reward in the form of "cashback" crypto coins or tokens , these will need to be included as part of your assessable income.

Mining

  • Tax treatment: Ordinary or business income

If you're mining as a casual investor, you'll be taxed on ordinary income. If you're running a mining operation as part of your business, you'll be taxed on business income.

What cryptocurrency tax records do you need to keep?

It's important to keep proper records of all your crypto-related transactions. Records you should keep include:

  • The date of each transaction
  • The value of the cryptocurrency in Australian dollars at the time of the transaction
  • The purpose of the transaction
  • The details of the other party involved (even if it's just their crypto wallet address)

For example, if you want to claim the personal use exemption, you'll need to be able to prove that you used your cryptocurrency to buy an item or service for personal use.

The ATO outlines examples of the records you should keep, such as:

  • Receipts of cryptocurrency purchases or transfers
  • Exchange records
  • Records of agent, accountant and legal costs
  • Digital wallet records and keys
  • Software costs associated with the management of your tax affairs

If you have not kept records of your tax, you can access historic price information from reputable websites that publish daily conversion rates for BTC/AUD, ETH/AUD etc. Your crypto exchange should also be able to provide you with details of your transaction history.

Record keeping tips and tools

Keeping track of your crypto for tax purposes is a big task, especially if you’re trading across multiple wallets and platforms. But the good news is there are plenty of tools out there to help.

Here are some tips to make things easier:

  • Export CSVs regularly: Most exchanges let you export your full transaction history in CSV format. It’s a good habit to download these monthly or quarterly so you’re not scrambling at tax time.
  • Label transactions as you go: Make notes when a transaction is personal use, a gift, or part of a DeFi strategy. It’s much easier than trying to remember later.
  • Use a record keeping platform: Save yourself the headache, and just use a crypto tax app to pull your transactions together in one place to generate tax reports.

Some popular crypto tax apps in Australia include:

  • Koinly – Clean interface, ATO-friendly reports, connects with most Aussie exchanges
  • CryptoTaxCalculator – Built in Australia, great for advanced DeFi and NFT tracking
  • CoinTracking – Longstanding option with deep analytics and tax reports

Many of these tools support API integrations with major wallets and exchanges, or let you import CSV files manually. They’ll calculate your capital gains, income, and even help identify lost or missing cost bases.

How to minimise crypto tax in Australia (and make tax time easier)

There are several simple things you can do to reduce your tax bill if you're a crypto investor, including:

  • Hold for more than 12 months. If you hold your crypto for more than 12 months, you're typically eligible for a 50% CGT discount.
  • Tax loss harvesting. If the value of some of the cryptocurrencies in your portfolio has plummeted and you sell them at a loss, you can use this to offset any capital gains for the year. This is a strategy known as tax loss harvesting and it can help you reduce your capital gains tax bill, just make sure you're not breaching the ATO's wash sale rules.
  • Think about deductions. Are you eligible to claim any deductions for expenses related to your crypto transactions, such as if you run a Bitcoin mining business?
  • Do your own research. Take a closer look at the ATO's guide to the taxation rules on cryptocurrencies for more information on how your crypto transactions will be taxed. You can also search for information or ask a question on the ATO Community forum.

Important: These are general tips only and may or may not be applicable to you. The most important step you can take is to speak to a tax professional.

Wash sale rules explained

A wash sale happens when you sell a crypto asset (or share) at a loss and quickly repurchase the same or a substantially identical asset, just to claim the capital loss on your tax return. This is treated as the ATO as tax avoidance and you pay be penalised.

Can you avoid paying crypto tax in Australia?

There are a couple of reasons you might not need to pay tax on your cryptocurrency profits or income.

Personal use asset exemption

As noted above, you may not need to pay tax on your crypto if the purpose of owning it is to pay for a good or service. In this case, you may be eligible for the personal use asset exemption. Cryptocurrency transactions are exempt from CGT if:

  • The crypto is used to purchase goods or services for personal use, such as booking hotels online or shopping at retailers that accept digital currency; and
  • The capital gains you make are from personal use assets acquired for less than $10,000.
  • You've made the purchase directly using your crypto, without transferring into another currency or onto payment service, like a credit card.

But there are a few terms and conditions that apply. The ATO explains that cryptocurrency is not classed as a personal use asset if it is acquired, kept or used:

  • As an investment
  • As part of a profit-making scheme
  • In the course of business activities

The ATO also states that if you hold cryptocurrency for some time before using it to buy items for personal use, it's "less likely" to be classified as a personal use asset. In other words, the longer you hold your crypto before spending it, the smaller your chances of qualifying for the personal use asset exemption.

Do I need an accountant for crypto tax?

Not only is Australian crypto tax complicated and confusing, it's also still evolving.

You don't have to use an accountant to help with your crypto taxes, but it can be very helpful (even necessary) if you're making frequent trades or doing more than just buying and selling. Plus, with the ATO cracking down on crypto investors, using a tax professional can save you time, money and even legal costs if you make any mistakes.

Here are some of the reasons you might seriously consider getting a tax accountant:

  • You trade frequently or at high volumes and use multiple wallets or exchanges
  • You've used DeFi platforms for things like lending, yield farming or liquidity pools
  • You've bought, made or sold NFTs
  • You earn rewards for staking or node validation
  • You've lost access to a wallet or records and need help reconstructing your tax position
  • You're unsure whether you're classified as an investor or trader

Before hiring an accountant, it's worth checking that they specialise in crypto assets, not just regular capital gains tax events.

FAQs

Disclaimer: This information should not be interpreted as an endorsement of cryptocurrency or any specific provider, service or offering. It is not a recommendation to trade. Cryptocurrencies are speculative, complex and involve significant risks – they are highly volatile and sensitive to secondary activity. Performance is unpredictable and past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Consider your own circumstances, and obtain your own advice, before relying on this information. You should also verify the nature of any product or service (including its legal status and relevant regulatory requirements) and consult the relevant Regulators' websites before making any decision. Finder, or the author, may have holdings in the cryptocurrencies discussed.

Sources

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James Edwards is a seasoned cryptocurrency expert and content creator with over a decade of experience in blockchain, DeFi and Web3. An early adopter of Bitcoin, he has contributed to major outlets like Nasdaq, CoinDesk, and The Street, and has reported at leading industry events such as TechCrunch Disrupt and CoinDesk Consensus. James has produced over 200 YouTube videos, including interviews with influential figures like Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Tim Draper, and holds a Bachelor of Liberal Arts & Sciences in Psychology from the University of Sydney, along with a Tier 1 Generic Knowledge certification in compliance with ASIC standards. James created cryptocurrency content at Finder as a video producer, writer and editor from 2018 to 2023. See full bio

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Kylie Purcell is an experienced investments analyst and finance journalist with over a decade of expertise in a wide range of financial products, including online trading platforms, robo-advisors, stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies. She is a sought-after commentator and regularly shares her insights on the AFR, Yahoo Finance, The Motley Fool, SBS and News.com.au. Kylie hosts the Investment Finder video series and actively contributes to the investment community as a judge and panellist. She holds a Master of Arts in International Journalism, a Graduate Diploma in Economics, and ASIC-recognised certifications in securities and managed investments. See full bio

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Kylie has written 208 Finder guides across topics including:
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