Guide to Crypto Tax in Australia for 2026

Yes. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) treats most disposals (selling for dollars, swapping one coin for another, or spending crypto) as capital gains tax (CGT) events. Mining, staking, airdrops, salary paid in crypto, and many DeFi yields are assessed as ordinary income at market value when received.

Crypto capital gains are added to your other assessable income and taxed at marginal rates that currently range from 0-45% for individuals, plus the 2% Medicare levy. Hold an asset for at least 12 months, and you can discount the gain by 50%. Income from staking, mining, airdrops, and business trading is taxed as ordinary income with no discount, though related expenses are deductible.

See our expert picks of the best crypto wallets.

Buying and holding cryptocurrency

Purchasing crypto with Australian dollars has no immediate tax impact unless you are running a trading business, in which case inventory rules apply.

Selling cryptocurrency

Selling for AUD or another fiat currency triggers CGT on the difference between proceeds and cost base. Report the result at question 18 of your individual tax return.

Mining and staking

Block rewards and staking payouts are ordinary income at market value when credited to your wallet. A later disposal is a separate CGT event based on that new cost base.

How crypto-to-crypto trades are taxed

Swapping BTC for ETH or bridging tokens counts as disposing of the first asset and acquiring the second, so you calculate CGT in Australian dollars at the time of the swap.

Receiving cryptocurrency as payment

If you accept crypto for goods or services, the AUD market value is business income. GST may also apply if you are registered and the sale is domestic.

Work out each gain or loss in Australian dollars, subtract any carried-forward capital losses, then apply the 50% discount if you held the asset 12 months or more. Unused losses roll forward indefinitely and can offset future gains but not ordinary income.

Net capital losses carry forward indefinitely and offset future capital gains. Business losses from trading, mining, or staking may be deductible against other business income if the activity passes at least one non-commercial loss test.

Use our free crypto tax calculator.

Established-token airdrops are ordinary income at market value when received. When you later sell those tokens, any additional gain is a CGT event with the cost base equal to the value already taxed as income.

Depositing tokens into a lending pool or liquidity protocol is usually treated as a disposal of the original asset and an acquisition of the receipt token, creating an immediate CGT event. Periodic interest, yield, or incentives paid by a DeFi platform are ordinary income at the time you receive them, even if the tokens remain locked.

Learn more: What Is DeFi?

Exchanges and certain service providers must register with AUSTRAC, follow KYC rules, and report suspicious transactions. A licensing framework for digital-asset platforms passed Parliament in April 2026 and commences in April 2027, so maintaining robust records now will make future audits easier.

The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 is no longer before the Parliament. It passed both houses on 1 April 2026 and received Royal Assent on 8 April 2026, becoming the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Act 2026. It begins on 9 April 2027.

The Act amends the Corporations Act 2001 and creates two new categories of financial product: digital asset platforms, which hold digital tokens on behalf of clients, and tokenised custody platforms, which hold an underlying asset and issue a token representing it. 

Operators of either will generally need an Australian financial services licence from ASIC and will be held to the same core obligations as brokers and fund managers. The low-value exemption is narrower than a single A$10 million test. An operator must have total transaction value under A$10 million across its platforms over the preceding 12 months, hold no digital assets that are financial products, hold no digital asset worth more than A$5,000 at the time it first comes onto the platform, and lodge a notice with ASIC stating its intention to rely on the exemption.

Does the Digital Assets Framework change how crypto is taxed in Australia?

No. The Act sits in corporations law, not tax law. Nothing in it changes how the ATO treats a disposal, a staking reward, or an airdrop. Your CGT events, the 12-month discount, and your income tax obligations all work the same way after April 2027 as they do now.

What changes is who holds your crypto and what records that platform has to keep. ASIC will set asset-holding standards covering the segregation of client assets from the operator's own assets, record-keeping, reconciliation and reporting, and client withdrawal rights. It will also set transactional and settlement standards covering execution practices, trade disclosures, and price transparency.

For most Australian investors, the practical effect is better source data at tax time. Licensed platforms will be under a formal obligation to maintain and reconcile the transaction records you rely on to determine a cost base. That does not shift the obligation off you. The ATO still expects you to hold your own records for five years, and it still runs a crypto asset data-matching program that collects account and transaction data from Australian providers and compares it against what you lodge.

The ASIC implementation timeline

ASIC has published an 18-month roadmap. The Act itself commences in April 2027. In the first 6 months, it consults with industry and stands up an advisory group. Between months 6 and 12, it releases a new regulatory guide for digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms, and makes the legislative instruments setting asset-holding, transactional and settlement, and financial requirement standards.

Between months 12 and 18, operators can lodge licence applications and keep trading under regulatory relief while ASIC processes them. Full supervision and enforcement begin from month 18.

The AUSTRAC changes are separate, and already in force

The licensing regime has two tracks. The other is anti-money laundering, and it passed first.

Australia's expanded AML/CTF regime commenced on 1 July 2026. The old "digital currency exchange" registration has been replaced by a broader virtual asset service provider category that encompasses crypto-to-crypto exchange and custody services previously outside the net. Newly regulated providers had until 29 July 2026 to apply to enrol and register with AUSTRAC, and providers that applied before that date can keep operating while AUSTRAC assesses them.

If you use an Australian platform, this is worth two minutes of your time. AUSTRAC maintains a public register of registered providers. A platform that is not on it is either exempt or non-compliant, and that is a question worth answering before you deposit anything.

What to do now

Nothing about your current return changes because of this Act. But three things are worth doing before the regime commences in April 2027.

Export your full transaction history from every platform you use, including ones you have stopped using. Platforms that decide the licensing burden is not worth it will exit the Australian market between now and 2027, and reconstructing a cost base from a dead exchange is the single most expensive record-keeping failure in crypto tax.

Check that your platform is registered with AUSTRAC now, not in 2027.

Keep your own records regardless of what your platform provides. Platform statements convert to AUD inconsistently, and they cannot see wallets you hold elsewhere.

If you mine, stake, or day-trade at commercial scale, the ATO may classify you as carrying on a business. Crypto gains then become ordinary income, and you can deduct reasonable business expenses.

Deducting crypto losses in Australia

Business losses can offset other income if you pass at least one non-commercial loss test; otherwise, they carry forward until the business becomes profitable.

Using crypto to buy coffee or pay freelancers counts as disposing of the asset. The AUD value of the goods or services is the proceeds for CGT purposes. Businesses accepting crypto must record the fair value in AUD and may need to charge GST on domestic sales.

Legal strategies include holding assets for 12 months, harvesting capital losses before 30 June, contributing to superannuation where appropriate, and steering clear of wash sales, which the ATO actively monitors.

Learn about crypto tax free countries.

Crypto that cost A$10,000 or less and was acquired and used to buy personal items may be exempt as a personal-use asset, but the ATO applies this rule narrowly.

Keep invoices, exchange statements, blockchain transaction IDs, and wallet addresses for at least five years after lodging the return. Store screenshots or CSV exports that show the market value at the time of each transaction.

The tax year runs 1 July to 30 June. Self-lodgers must lodge by 31 October. Using a registered tax agent often extends lodgment until as late as May of the following year, provided you register with the agent before 31 October. Payment is due 21 November for self-lodgers unless the ATO grants an extension.

You need transaction dates, token names, wallet addresses involved, AUD value at the time of each transaction, the purpose of the transaction, and receipts for any deductible expenses.

Most individuals can lodge online with myTax. Advanced traders often prefer a registered tax agent. TokenTax imports data from major exchanges and wallets, converts every transaction to AUD, and generates an ATO-ready report in minutes.

Convert every transaction to Australian dollars using the spot rate on the transaction date, classify each item as income or CGT, subtract deductible expenses and carried-forward losses, then apply any discounts. Automated tools such as the TokenTax calculator streamline the process and flag missing data.