Crypto tax calculator Australia
Crypto tax calculator Australia: enter what you bought and what you sold it for, and the calculator below works out the capital gains tax on every disposal. It applies the ATO's 50% discount, nets your losses off first, then adds what is left to your income at your marginal rate.
Crypto tax in Australia is capital gains tax. There is no separate crypto regime and no flat rate. What decides the bill is how long you held each coin and what income the net gain lands on top of.
How it works
How crypto tax works in Australia
Buying crypto with dollars is not a taxable event. The tax falls on disposal, and a disposal happens when you sell for dollars, swap one coin for another, gift coins, or spend them on goods. Each disposal realises a gain or a loss measured in Australian dollars at the time of the transaction.
The gain is what the disposal brought in, minus the cost base of what it took to acquire the coin: the purchase price plus buying fees, with selling fees taken off the proceeds. Hold the coin under 12 months and the whole gain goes into your tax return at your marginal rate. Hold it 12 months or longer and the ATO's CGT discount removes 50% of the gain first. When counting the 12 months, the day you acquired the coin and the day of the disposal are both excluded.
Capital losses are subtracted from your gains before any discount is applied. Losses from one coin reduce gains from another in the same year, and anything left over carries forward to future years. The discount never applies to a net loss, and capital losses never offset salary.
Worked example
Ether held 17 months: $12,500 gain, $2,000 tax
You buy $5,000 of ether on 15 August 2024 and sell it for $17,500 on 20 January 2026. Held for 17 months, the disposal clears the 12-month test, so the whole gain is discountable.
The capital gain is $12,500. The 50% discount removes $6,250, leaving $6,250 of net capital gain for the return. On a salary of $85,000 the gain sits entirely in the 30% bracket, so the tax on the gain is $2,000, and $125 of that is Medicare levy.
One ether disposal in the 2025-26 income year
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sale proceeds | $17,500 |
| Cost base (purchase price) | $5,000 |
| Capital gain | $12,500 |
| CGT discount (50%) | −$6,250 |
| Net capital gain added to income | $6,250 |
| Tax on the gain at $85,000 income, Medicare included | $2,000 |
Common mistakes
Mistakes that change the number
- Treating a swap as a pause. Trading bitcoin for ether disposes of the bitcoin at its market value at the swap. The gain is real and taxable even though no dollars arrived.
- Testing the 12 months per portfolio instead of per coin. A parcel held 18 months and one held 3 months do not average out; each disposal carries its own holding period.
- Discounting before netting losses. Losses come off gains first, and the discount applies to what remains. Applying the discount to each gain before losses overstates the bill on mixed years.
- Counting the 12 months inclusive of both end days. The acquisition day and the disposal day are both excluded; a coin bought on 2 January first qualifies on 3 January the following year.
- Forgetting fees. Exchange and network fees on the way in belong in the cost base, and fees on the way out reduce the proceeds.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How is crypto taxed in Australia?
As capital gains. Each disposal's gain or loss is worked out in Australian dollars, losses net against gains, and a 50% discount applies to gains from coins held 12 months or longer. The net capital gain is added to your other income and taxed at your marginal rate.
Is swapping one cryptocurrency for another taxable?
Yes. A swap disposes of the coin you give up at its market value in dollars. That value becomes the proceeds of one disposal and the cost base of the new coin.
How long do I have to hold crypto to get the 50% discount?
At least 12 months between acquisition and disposal, excluding both the day you acquired the coin and the day of the disposal.
Can crypto losses reduce the tax on my salary?
No. Capital losses offset capital gains only. A year with losses and no gains pays no CGT, and the losses carry forward to offset gains in later years.
Do I pay tax when I buy crypto with Australian dollars?
No. Acquiring crypto is not a CGT event. The cost, including fees, becomes the cost base you measure a later disposal against.
What records does the calculator need?
The date and dollar value of every buy and every disposal, plus fees. The calculator above imports exchange CSVs, matches each disposal to its buys, and works out the rest.
Sources
Where these figures come from
Also on capitalgainstax.net