Samuel Testa & Company

Samuel Testa & Company has been advising business owners and High Net Worth Individuals for over 38 years. We go beyond the numbers to help business owners, their families and Individuals achieve their desired outcomes through Managed Tax Solutions coupled with Asset Protection and sophisticated Estate Planning Strategies.

How is crypto taxed in Australia?

1. Cryptocurrencies are considered crypto assets by the Australian Tax Office (ATO). Crypto assets are not considered money from a tax perspective.
2. Crypto assets are any form of digital representation of value that you can transfer, store, or trade electronically, including NFTs.
3. Crypto assets can be acquired or sold through a crypto trading platform, or directly through a digital wallet or hardware wallet. A crypto asset can be exchanged for another crypto asset, fiat currency, or goods or services.
4. Crypto assets are taxed differently depending on how they are used or transacted.
5. In general, for investors: crypto assets are taxed as CGT assets, including for self-managed super funds (SMSFs) investing in crypto.
6. And, rewards for staking crypto are ordinary income.
7. Occasionally, crypto assets are not kept mainly for investment purposes but rather for personal use. As personal use assets, crypto assets are not subject to CGT if certain conditions are met.
8. Businesses transacting in crypto assets may need to account for their crypto as trading stock, or as ordinary income. 
9. You can control different types of crypto assets in the same wallet but for tax purposes you need to treat each crypto asset as a separate asset.
10. Crypto earnings need to be reported in an individual's annual tax return as either capital gains, losses, or income. 

Want more? Koinly’s Ultimate Cryptocurrency Tax Guide Australia covers everything you need to know and more!