How to use our crypto tax calculator
Select the year you’re filing for and whether you're calculating for a single trade or multiple.
Enter your figures and toggle long-term gains on or off.
View your estimated tax bill
How accurate is our crypto tax calculator?
This calculator estimates your tax using the information you provide. It works out your income tax bracket based on your annual income, applies the relevant rates to your capital gains, and includes the 50% long-term Capital Gains Tax discount where applicable. If your income falls across multiple tax brackets, rates are applied proportionally for a more accurate estimate.
Tax rates are sourced from the ATO. The calculator does not include capital losses from previous years and is intended for individual investors only, not traders with regular business income who may be taxed under different rules.
This free calculator is a simplified version of the Koinly app and is designed to give you a quick estimate of your potential crypto tax bill. For a full and accurate view of your tax liability across your entire portfolio, that’s exactly what Koinly was built for.
What if I don't have the information I need to use the capital gains tax calculator?
Don't worry, 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 ATO states investors may select from different cost basis methods, including FIFO, LIFO, and HIFO.
Why do I need to enter my annual income?
Our tool uses your annual income to figure out what tax bracket you fall into, so it can more accurately estimate the amount of tax due.
Why do you need to know how long I’ve owned crypto?
How long you owned your crypto before disposing of it directly impacts the amount of tax you’ll pay. Both short and long-term gains from crypto are subject to Income Tax, but long-term gains receive a 50% discount.
How is cryptocurrency taxed in Australia?
Crypto is subject to Income Tax, but the amount you’ll pay depends on your annual income, how long you’ve held your crypto, and your specific transactions. Learn more in our Australia crypto tax guide.
What are capital gains?
Capital gains are profits made from disposing of property, like stocks and crypto. Traditionally, a disposal meant selling your capital asset. For crypto, disposals include selling, trading, spending, and gifting crypto. Any capital gain you make will be subject to income tax, but if you’ve held your crypto for more than a year, you’ll receive a 50% discount.Â
Is Bitcoin taxed in Australia?
Yes. The ATO treats Bitcoin as a CGT (capital gains tax) asset when you hold it as an investment, so selling, swapping or spending it is a CGT event. Your capital gain is what you received in Australian dollars minus your cost base. Your net capital gain is added to your assessable income and taxed at your marginal rate, plus the 2% Medicare levy where it applies.
If you're an Australian resident individual and you've held the Bitcoin for at least 12 months, the CGT discount reduces your capital gain by 50%. The full discount isn't available to foreign or temporary residents. You subtract capital losses from your gains before you apply the discount.
A narrow personal use asset exemption exists for Bitcoin you kept or used mainly to buy personal items and acquired for less than $10,000. It doesn't cover Bitcoin you hold as an investment.
If you earn Bitcoin instead of buying it, for example as staking rewards, an airdrop or payment for work, it's income at its Australian dollar value when you receive it. If you trade or mine Bitcoin as a business, the ATO treats it as trading stock and the proceeds are ordinary income instead of CGT.
Which Bitcoin transactions are taxable?
Selling, swapping and spending Bitcoin are taxable. Buying and holding it isn't.
| What you did | Taxable? |
|---|---|
| Sold Bitcoin for Australian dollars | Yes, CGT event |
| Swapped Bitcoin for another crypto | Yes, CGT event |
| Spent Bitcoin on goods or services | Yes, CGT event |
| Gifted Bitcoin | Yes, CGT event |
| Bought Bitcoin with Australian dollars and held it | No disposal until you sell, swap or spend it. The amount you paid sets your cost base |
| Moved Bitcoin between your own wallets | Not a disposal. Paying the network fee in Bitcoin counts as one |
| Received Bitcoin as payment for work | Yes, income at its Australian dollar market value when you receive it |
| Received staking rewards or airdrops | Yes, income when you receive them |
| Trading or mining Bitcoin as a business | Yes, ordinary income. The Bitcoin is trading stock |
How do you report Bitcoin on your tax return?
You report capital gains and losses in the capital gains or losses section of your individual tax return in myTax, and you report income such as staking rewards as other income. Work out each transaction in Australian dollars. If you lodge your own return, the deadline is 31 October after the end of the financial year (1 July to 30 June). A registered tax agent usually has a later lodgment schedule, but you need to engage them before 31 October.
Keep your records for at least 5 years. The ATO asks for the date of each purchase, transfer and disposal, the Australian dollar value at the time, and your wallet records, and it says to keep details for each crypto asset separately.
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.
Income from crypto
In some instances, crypto can also be subject to income tax upon receipt when you're earning new tokens, for example, through mining or staking rewards.
What are capital losses?
If you have a loss from disposing of a capital asset, you can offset this loss against any capital gains. If you have no capital gains to offset, you can carry losses forward to offset against future gains.
How to calculate capital gains tax on crypto
Your Capital Gains Tax rate is based on the same Income Tax rates the ATO uses for regular income, like your salary. How much you’ll pay depends on your total annual income and how long you’ve held the asset:
For short-term capital gains, from crypto held less than a year, you’ll pay the same Income Tax rate you would on your regular salary or other income, at up to 45% depending on how much you earn.Â
For long-term capital gains, from crypto held more than a year, you receive a 50% discount, so only half your gain is subject to Income Tax.Â
How tax brackets work
Your tax bracket is based on your total annual income, including salary and wages, capital gains, and other assessable income. Australia uses a progressive tax system, which means different portions of your income are taxed at different rates. No single rate applies to your entire income; only the amount within each tax bracket is taxed at that rate. The current income tax rates are below, but remember, if you've held your asset for a year, you receive a 50% discount!
| Income | Tax Rate |
|---|---|
| $0 - $18,200 | 0% |
| $18,201 - $45,000 | 16% |
| $45,001 - $135,000 | 30% |
| $135,001 - $190,000 | 37% |
| $190,001+ | 45% |
When do I owe crypto taxes?
You owe tax when you make a capital gain or receive assessable income from crypto. These amounts must be reported in your annual tax return, which is due by 31 October following the end of the financial year (or later if you lodge through a registered tax agent)
How to reduce crypto tax
There are two simple strategies available to Aussie investors to reduce their crypto tax bill: hold and utilise losses.
Crypto held for more than 12 months before disposal qualifies for the 50% capital gains tax discount, so only half of your gain is taxable. Koinly’s asset maturity dashboard helps you track how long you’ve held each asset so you can plan what to sell and when.
Capital losses can be used to offset capital gains and reduce your overall tax bill. Koinly’s tax optimisation dashboard helps you identify unrealised losses and model the impact of realising them.
