How to use our crypto tax calculator
Select the year you’re filing for, your province, and whether you're calculating a single trade or multiple.
Enter your figures.
View your estimated tax bill.
How accurate is our crypto tax calculator?
Our tax tool uses the information you’ve provided to identify your federal and provincial Income Tax rates and the tax brackets you fall into based on your location. These tax rates are then applied to the capital gains figures you’ve entered to calculate your estimated bill. If your income overlaps different tax brackets, we apply these tax brackets proportionally to give you an accurate estimation of your bill.
We use the CRA and Revenu Québec websites as our source for federal and provincial tax rates. Our capital gains calculator does not factor in any losses you may have incurred, any local or city income taxes, or any specific provincial legislation that may apply additional taxes to gains. It does not factor in whether your capital gains may be taxed as business income, in which case the 50% reduction would not be accessible. You should speak to a financial advisor to determine how your capital gains will be taxed by the CRA.
Our free crypto tax calculator is a simplified version of the Koinly app to help give you an estimate of your potential crypto tax bill, without needing to sign up. If you’re looking for a more comprehensive understanding of your tax liability across your entire portfolio, that’s exactly what Koinly was made for.
What if I don't have the information I need to use the capital gains tax calculator?
If you don’t know your figures, don’t panic - Koinly can figure them out for you. When you import your trading history to Koinly, it does all the hard work for you, including identifying your cost basis and the fair market value of any crypto income. It even factors in deductible trading fees, all automatically.
How do I calculate my purchase price?
Your purchase price is whatever you paid for your crypto, plus any allowable fees. It’s also known as your cost basis. In instances where you have multiple assets of the same kind, the CRA states investors should use the Average Cost Basis method with the superficial loss rule.
Why do I need to enter my annual income?
Our tool uses your annual income to figure out what tax bracket you fall into, on both a federal and provincial level, so it can more accurately estimate the amount of tax due.
Why do I need to enter my location?
Entering your location enables our tool to determine the provincial tax rates applicable to your location, providing a more accurate estimate of your tax liability.Â
How is cryptocurrency taxed in Canada?
Crypto is subject to both federal and provincial income tax in Canada, and the amount you’ll pay depends on how much you earn, your transactions, and whether you have capital gains or business income. Learn more in our Canada crypto tax guide.
What are capital gains?
Capital gains are the profits you make when you dispose of a capital asset, such as stocks or crypto. While disposal traditionally meant selling, for crypto, it also includes trading, spending, or gifting your assets.
Canada doesn't have a separate Capital Gains Tax rate. Instead, capital gains are taxed as income at your federal and provincial rates. If the CRA treats your profits as capital gains, only 50% of the gain is taxable.
In some cases, the CRA may classify your crypto profits as business income, depending on your trading activity and intent, in which case the 50% inclusion rate would not apply. Some other transactions, like mining or staking rewards, may also be taxable income upon receipt.
Is Bitcoin taxed in Canada?
Yes, once you dispose of it. Holding Bitcoin isn't taxed on its own. Selling it, trading it for another crypto or spending it is a disposition, and the result is usually a capital gain or loss. Your gain is what you received minus your adjusted cost base (ACB), which is the cost of the Bitcoin in Canadian dollars plus the expenses to acquire it. Half of a capital gain is taxable (a 50% inclusion rate), and you add it to your income for the year.
The CRA also says profit from selling or trading crypto can be taxable as business income instead. It doesn't set out a single test for which applies, so if you're not sure, ask a tax professional.
If you earn Bitcoin instead of buying it, for example through mining or staking, it's income when you receive it. Mining is in most cases treated as carrying on a business, and you report that income separately from capital gains.
Which Bitcoin transactions are taxable?
Selling, trading and spending Bitcoin are taxable. Buying and holding it isn't.
| What you did | Taxable? |
|---|---|
| Sold Bitcoin for Canadian dollars | Yes, capital gain or loss (or business income if you're carrying on a business) |
| Traded Bitcoin for another crypto | Yes, capital gain or loss, based on the fair market value of the Bitcoin you gave up |
| Spent Bitcoin on goods or services | Yes, capital gain or loss. The CRA treats it as barter |
| Gifted or donated Bitcoin | The CRA lists it as a disposition |
| Bought Bitcoin with Canadian dollars and held it | No, until you sell, trade or spend it |
| Moved Bitcoin between your own wallets | No, the CRA says a transfer between wallets you own isn't a taxable disposition |
| Received Bitcoin from mining, staking or as payment | Yes, income when you receive it |
How do you report Bitcoin on your tax return?
You report capital gains and losses on Schedule 3 of your T1 income tax return, and the CRA's T4037 guide walks through it. Convert every transaction to Canadian dollars. The CRA doesn't require one exchange-rate source, so use a reasonable method and apply it consistently. Business income, which can include mining, is covered in the CRA's T4002 guide. Keep your records for at least six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to.
Most people file by 30 April. If you or your spouse or common-law partner is self-employed, your filing date is 15 June, but any tax you owe is still due 30 April.
This calculator estimates tax on the trades you enter. To work out your gains across your exchanges and Bitcoin wallets, import them to Koinly. You can add Bitcoin wallets by public address or xpub and review the imported transactions before you generate your report.
What are capital losses?
If you have a loss from disposing of crypto, then you have a capital loss. You can use these losses to offset gains and reduce your overall tax liability. However, like gains, only half of any loss is allowed to be offset.
How to calculate capital gains tax on crypto
Your Capital Gains Tax rate depends on your total annual income and how you're viewed as an investor. For individual investors, only half of any gain is subject to tax at your Federal and Provincial tax rate.
How tax brackets work
Your tax rate depends on your total taxable income for the year, including salary, capital gains, and any other income. In Canada, income is taxed progressively, so higher portions of your income are taxed at higher rates. This means you don’t pay one flat rate on everything you earn; each portion of income is taxed at the rate for its bracket. Your final tax bill is based on a combination of federal and provincial income tax rates. You can see the federal rates for the last financial year below:
| Tax Rate | Income |
|---|---|
| 14.5%* | $57,375 or less |
| 20.5% | $57,375.01 - $114,750 |
| 26% | $114,751 - $177,882 |
| 29% | $177,883 - $253,414 |
| 33% | $253,414.01+ |
Provincial income tax on crypto
Provincial income taxes apply to both capital gains and income from crypto, and can vary between 4% to 21.8% depending on your location and annual income. Some provinces also have additional regulations surrounding crypto; for example, in Ontario, retail investors are subject to a net buy limit of $30,000 on the majority of tokens.
When do I owe crypto taxes?
You owe tax whenever you realise a capital gain or receive taxable income from crypto. These amounts must be reported on your annual income tax return, which is due by 30 April following the end of the tax year. Any tax owed is also payable by this date, although self-employed individuals may have a later filing deadline.
How do I reduce crypto taxes?
One simple strategy available to Canadian investors to reduce their crypto tax bill is to utilise losses.
Losses might be bad news for your portfolio, but they’re good news for your tax bill because the CRA lets you offset half of any loss against your taxable gains to reduce your overall tax bill. Koinly’s tax optimization dashboard helps you identify unrealised losses and simulate how realizing them would impact your tax bill.
