There are no special tax rules for crypto in Australia. That is the ATO's own phrasing, and it is where the confusion starts: crypto is taxed under the ordinary rules for assets and income, so everyday actions, from swapping tokens to paying for a coffee, carry tax consequences many holders never notice. Here is how they apply, what changes from 1 July 2027, and the records you need.
Crypto is a CGT asset, not money
For tax purposes crypto assets are not money. If you acquire and hold them to make a profit, which the ATO says is the most common use, they are CGT assets. Each coin, token or NFT is a separate asset even if they sit in the same wallet. A net capital loss cannot be deducted from wages or business income; it carries forward against future capital gains.
What counts as a disposal
The ATO's list of CGT events for crypto is broader than most people expect:
- Selling for Australian dollars or any other fiat currency.
- Swapping one crypto asset for another. You dispose of the first and acquire the second. Your proceeds are the Australian dollar market value of what you receive; if the new token has no market value yet, you use the value of the asset you gave up.
- Spending crypto on goods or services, including buying a gift card or topping up a crypto-linked debit card. When a card provider draws crypto from your wallet to pay a merchant, the proceeds are the amount it paid.
- Gifting crypto. Giving it away is a disposal at market value. Receiving a gift is not a CGT event, but record the date, quantity and market value, because that becomes your cost base.
- Moving into DeFi. Lending to a protocol, depositing into a liquidity pool or wrapping a token can each be a CGT event because beneficial ownership of the original asset ends.
Transfers between your own wallets are not disposals, but record them.
Working out the gain in Australian dollars
Every transaction is valued in Australian dollars at the time it happened; the ATO uses Reserve Bank exchange rates and accepts a value from a reputable exchange for the crypto leg. The gain is proceeds less cost base, which includes what you paid plus incidental costs such as exchange fees. With hundreds of trades this is not a spreadsheet job: we load exchange exports and wallet histories into crypto tax software, then check the items software gets wrong, such as internal transfers classified as sales.
The 12-month discount, and what replaces it in 2027
If you hold a crypto asset for at least 12 months before disposing of it, an individual can currently reduce the capital gain by 50% after applying capital losses. Tokens received through staking or swaps start a new 12-month clock, so acquisition dates matter.
That lever is changing. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026 is now law. From 1 July 2027 the 50% discount for individuals, trusts and partnerships is replaced with indexation of the cost base and a 30% minimum tax rate on capital gains. The ATO states the reform applies only to gains that accrue after 1 July 2027, so value built up before that date keeps the current treatment. We will update this article as the ATO publishes the mechanics.
The personal use asset exemption
A capital gain on crypto is exempt if the asset is a personal use asset and you acquired it for less than $10,000. The catch is the definition. Crypto is a personal use asset only if you kept or used it mainly to buy things for personal consumption, judged by how you actually used it up to disposal, not what you intended at the start. Buying coins and spending them within days fits. Holding coins for months and then spending some does not, and neither does converting to dollars first, buying a gift card, or paying through a crypto debit card. Losses on personal use assets are disregarded, so the exemption cuts both ways.
Staking, airdrops and DeFi yield are income
Tokens you receive as a staking reward, or for validating, voting or proxy staking, are ordinary income at their money value on the day received, declared as other income. DeFi platform rewards are taxed similarly to interest. The value declared becomes the cost base of those tokens for a later CGT calculation.
Airdrops are more nuanced. Tokens received for goods or services, or by someone in the business of trading crypto, are income. Tokens that simply arrive unasked are not income on the ATO's current view, but they are a CGT asset with a cost base equal to market value on receipt (nil if worthless then). Draft ruling TR 2026/D1 covers the detail.
Lost, stolen or stranded crypto
You can claim a capital loss for crypto that is genuinely lost or stolen, including through a lost private key, if you can prove ownership and loss of access. The ATO's evidence list is specific: the wallet address, when you acquired and lost the key, what the crypto cost and was worth when lost, transactions linking the wallet to your identity, and possession of the hardware.
Investor or trader?
Most people are investors, taxed under CGT. If you carry on a business of trading crypto, your coins are trading stock: purchases are deductible, sales are ordinary income, there is no discount, and stock on hand is valued at year end. The ATO looks at whether you operate commercially, intend to profit, keep business records and repeat the activity in an organised way, and says plainly that a high volume of trades does not by itself make you a business.
NFTs and DeFi, briefly
NFTs follow the same framework: usually a CGT asset for a collector, trading stock or business income for a creator who mints and sells them, and only rarely a personal use asset. In DeFi, the ATO's view is that many lending arrangements, liquidity pool deposits and withdrawals, and wrapping or unwrapping a token are CGT events in their own right, with proceeds equal to the market value of what you receive back. One DeFi position can produce several taxable events before you touch a dollar.
The records the ATO expects
For every asset and transaction: receipts for each purchase, transfer and disposal; the date; what it was for and the other party's wallet address; exchange records; the Australian dollar value at the time; wallet records and keys; and the cost of agents, accountants and tax software. Keep them for five years from the later of when you obtained them, when the transaction completed, or the year of the CGT event. The ATO also recommends exporting your full history at least every three months and before closing any account.
Data matching
The ATO's crypto asset data-matching program collects account and transaction data from designated service providers and compares it with returns, which lets it identify buyers and sellers and quantify their trades. Assume an Australian exchange account is visible. If you have undeclared years, a voluntary amendment before the ATO makes contact is the better path, and we can prepare it.
Sources
- ATO — What are crypto assets?
- ATO — How to work out and report CGT on crypto
- ATO — Crypto asset transactions
- ATO — Crypto to crypto exchange or swap
- ATO — Crypto asset as a personal use asset
- ATO — Staking rewards and airdrops
- ATO — Loss or theft of crypto assets
- ATO — Crypto assets used in business
- ATO — Decentralised finance and wrapping crypto
- ATO — Non-fungible tokens
- ATO — Keeping crypto records
- ATO — Tax reform: reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax
Frequently asked
Do I pay tax if I swap one coin for another without cashing out to dollars?
Yes. The ATO treats a crypto-to-crypto swap as a disposal of the coin you give up and an acquisition of the coin you receive. The capital proceeds are the Australian dollar market value of the new coin at the time of the swap, so a gain or loss arises even though no dollars changed hands.
Is crypto under $10,000 tax-free?
Only if it is a personal use asset: crypto you kept or used mainly to buy things for personal consumption, typically acquired and spent within a short time. Crypto held as an investment is not a personal use asset however small the amount, and the $10,000 figure refers to the cost of acquiring the asset, not the gain.
How are staking rewards taxed?
The Australian dollar value of the tokens on the day you receive them is ordinary income, declared as other income in your return. That value then becomes the cost base of those tokens, so you may also have a capital gain or loss when you later sell or swap them.
What if I lost my private key or an exchange collapsed?
You can claim a capital loss for lost or stolen crypto if you can prove you owned it and have lost access to it, for example with the wallet address, acquisition records, the date and value at the time of loss, and evidence the wallet was under your control. Any compensation you later receive reduces the loss.
Does the ATO know about my crypto?
The ATO runs a crypto asset data-matching program that collects transaction and account data from designated service providers, including Australian exchanges, and matches it against tax returns. Assume your exchange activity is visible and report it.
What happens to the 50% CGT discount in 2027?
Under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026, the 50% discount for individuals, trusts and partnerships is replaced from 1 July 2027 by cost base indexation and a 30% minimum tax rate on capital gains. The ATO states the change applies only to gains that accrue after 1 July 2027, so gains built up before then keep the existing treatment.