The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released a new Tax and crypto asset investments factsheet as part of its 2025 Tax Time Toolkit for Investors. With more Australians trading in digital assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and NFTs, the ATO is ramping up its focus on ensuring taxpayers understand their obligations.
This factsheet is designed to help individuals and businesses prepare for tax time by clarifying when crypto transactions are taxable, what records need to be kept, and how to avoid common mistakes.
Some Key Points
# 1 Crypto disposals can trigger capital gains tax
# 2 Disposing of crypto assets is often a capital gains tax (CGT) event. This includes:
– Selling crypto for Australian or foreign currency.
– Swapping one crypto asset for another.
– Using crypto to pay for goods or services.
– Gifting crypto to another person.
Record-keeping is essential
The ATO stresses the importance of keeping accurate records for every crypto transaction, including:
- Dates of acquisition and disposal.
- The value of the crypto in Australian dollars at the time of each transaction.
- The purpose of the transaction (purchase, swap, payment, gift, etc.).
- Details of the other party (including wallet addresses, if applicable).
Records must be kept for at least five years, and exporting transaction history regularly is strongly recommended.
Other crypto activities covered
The ATO also provides guidance on more complex crypto scenarios, such as:
- Staking and airdrops – rewards are considered assessable income at market value when received.
- Decentralized finance (DeFi) – entering or exiting liquidity pools, lending, or borrowing can trigger CGT events.
- Wrapped tokens – converting into or out of wrapped tokens is treated as a taxable swap.
- Chain splits – receiving new crypto from a chain split is not taxable at the time, but disposing of it later will trigger CGT.
Tips to stay compliant this tax time
The ATO recommends that taxpayers:
- Use reputable exchanges or software that provide transaction summaries.
- Keep separate records for personal versus investment use.
- Remember that crypto-to-crypto swaps are taxable events.
- Seek professional advice if unsure, particularly for high-volume or complex trading.
Why this matters
The ATO’s data-matching program collects information from cryptocurrency exchanges to identify taxpayers who haven’t declared their crypto gains. With penalties for non-compliance being significant, the new factsheet is a timely reminder that crypto is not invisible money—it is treated like any other asset for tax purposes.
More information can be found on the ATO website
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Please note that this information is not specific and is general in nature and cannot be relied on as advice. Please contact us for advice specific to you and your circumstances.