ATO Warns Crypto Holders To Report Crypto Gains

On Friday, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) stated that they are expecting all cryptocurrency-related income to be reported for taxation purposes.

600,000 Aussies Expected To Report In

According to Tim Loh – ATO Assistant Commissioner – over 600,000 Aussies have recently invested in cryptocurrencies, and all of them are expected to report in. 300,000 taxpayers will reportedly be prompted to include crypto gains and losses on the tax sheet as they fill out their forms this year. A further 100,000 will be requested to review their previously lodged tax returns.

Tim Loh also stated that he found it strange that many people thought cryptocurrency was anonymous and couldn’t be tracked. Additionally, reporting applies to Non-Fungible Token sales, purchases and trades as well. However, keep in mind that if you’ve been HODLing for 12 months or more, you may be entitled to a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) discount, assuming you’re in the green.

The best tip to nail your cryptocurrency gains and losses is to keep accurate records including dates of transactions, the value in Australian dollars at the time of the transactions, what the transactions were for, and who the other party was, even if it’s just their wallet address.

Advertisement

Tim Loh, ATO Assistant Commissioner

The tracking is being done via the Financial Data Matching Protocol, which has been active for a while in conformity with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s Guidelines on Data Matching in the Australian Government Administration.

Cryptocurrency tax can be complex so the ATO has also made available a factsheet providing tips and information about how CGT applies to cryptos.